Israeli Gov’t Advances Bill for Facial Recognition Surveillance Cameras in Public Spaces
The bill says a police officer of undetermined rank will be able to decide that a camera be placed in a public area. A similar bill was advanced by the 'change government,' with then-Minister Pnina Tamano-Shata as the sole dissenter
A bill permitting the police to place facial recognition cameras in public spaces was approved by the Ministerial Committee for Legislation on Monday.
According to the proposal, submitted by National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Justice Minister Yariv Levin, the police will also be able to place portable cameras at events such as protest demonstrations, on the condition that the “human factor” [a police officer] is convinced that the operation of the biometric camera does not amount to an undue invasion of any individual’s privacy.”
The bill is drawing criticism due to concerns of invasion of privacy, and the loose monitoring criteria for the use of such cameras by the police. According to the bill, the placing of the cameras is intended to prevent, thwart, or detect serious crimes, to locate missing persons, and to enforce bans or restraining orders from public venues. To that end, the law will allows the police to receive a “real time alert” from the cameras on the presence of a specific person in the camera’s area of view.
Labor MK Gilad Kariv said, in response to the approval of the bill, that it is an "extreme bill not suitable for any progressive democracy. This is doubly true in relation to a country that has not updated its privacy protection laws in 40 years, and whose police is undergoing a political takeover by nationalist forces." Kariv added, "This bill cannot be separated from the judicial coup, and we will oppose it with the same strength we oppose the other laws of the coup."
The concern of harm to privacy is mentioned several times in the bill, with the qualifier being that such harm shall be done “to a degree not exceeding that necessary.” According to the bill, “these are photographic systems which include processing capabilities which enable the capturing of the image of individuals and comparing them to identified information uploaded to the system in their regard.”
The police claim that the cameras will enable the organization “to track the identity and location of suspects in the commission of crimes, and therefore constitute an effective tool for the detection and prevention of crimes and the execution of the police’s duties in the maintaining of public order and the protection of public safety and security.”
The bill is based on another bill, yet to be passed, which is intended to arrange the use of cameras in another system operated by the police – “Ein Hanetz” (“Hawkeye.”) The bill is awaiting a second and third vote, with the cameras meanwhile operating without legislative regulation. Both laws are meant to allow access to biometric photographs to a host of enforcement agencies, including the army, various prosecutorial authorities, the Police Investigations Unit, Shin Bet security service, the Witness Protection Authority, and any other public entity designated by the justice minister, with the approval of the Knesset’s National Security Committee
Despite the broad access allowed to photographs by the law, there is little oversight of the police’s use of the cameras, as defined in both bills. The laws allow for a situation in which no agency other than the police oversees the operation of the cameras, except for an annual report on their use to be submitted to the attorney general and the Knesset. At the same time, the “authorized officer” in the bill is required to reconfirm the placing of the camera in its permanent place once a year.