Khaberni - Despite public objections to Israel's actions, amidst international criticism of the genocide in Gaza, the British government continues to invest in spy software developed and tested on Palestinians in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.
In the latest development, London has purchased spy software from at least two Israeli companies, namely: "Cellebrite" and "BriefCam."
The British government had previously purchased "Corsight" facial recognition technology, used for tracking, monitoring, and detaining thousands of Palestinian civilians passing through checkpoints in Gaza and the West Bank.
All this comes in clear disregard for the British concerns declared regarding the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip and the actual annexation of the occupied West Bank.
Cellebrite
Cellebrite is an Israeli company closely linked to the Israeli military, and has developed software that can bypass passwords and security protocols on smartphones and computers to access data within.
According to a report by the "American Friends Service Committee," the Israeli military extensively used this software against Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank, including data collection from the phones of thousands of detained Palestinians, many of whom were systematically tortured.
Reports also indicate that Cellebrite received funding from the U.S. Department of Defense to work on technology aimed at mapping the tunnels of Gaza.
Records show that the United Kingdom has entered into several agreements to benefit from the technology used by Israel in the Palestinian territories.
According to public records, several British police forces purchased access to Cellebrite's software, including the City of London Police, which renewed its contract for one year with the Israeli company for over 95,000 pounds ($128,600) in June.
Leicestershire Police also renewed its contract with the company in March for 328,688 pounds ($445,300).
The British Transport Police, the Serious Fraud Office, and police forces in Kent, Essex, and Northumbria have also made agreements with the same company.
English Al Jazeera inquired with the British Home Office, Minister for Home Affairs Shabana Mahmood, and the commercial agent for the British police "Blue Light Services" about these contracts, but received no responses.
While the corporate communications director at Cellebrite, Victor Cooper, declined to comment on "specific client relationships or contracts," he denied that the company's activities constituted "hacking," explaining that these solutions are used as "criminal tools in legally authorized investigations, requiring physical possession of the device (phone), and do not allow remote access."
In this context, human rights groups have expressed concerns about the company exporting its technology to countries with "strict regimes" around the world, including Myanmar, Serbia, and Belarus, noting that it has been used to extract information from the phones of opponents, journalists, and activists.
BriefCam
BriefCam has been supplying surveillance software to the British Cambria Police since at least 2022.
"BriefCam" was founded in Israel in 2007, was acquired by Canon in 2018, and then by the Danish company "Milestone Systems" last year.
A report issued by Scotland Police last June confirmed that the police force there is also considering using this service.
The company provides "video synopsis" software to law enforcement agencies, governments, and companies, enabling police and private companies to filter and condense hours of surveillance camera and home camera recordings.
According to the company, the software can also filter footage based on a variety of characteristics, including gender, age group, clothing, movement patterns, and the time a person spends at a specific location, making it "attractive" to British police forces, despite the technology's links to oppression of Palestinians.
The "BriefCam" system also includes tools for facial recognition and searching for vehicle license plates, allowing the police to create "watch lists" for specific faces or vehicle plates, and this technology has been used in occupied East Jerusalem.
However, Cambria Police stated that they are currently not using the facial recognition capabilities in BriefCam's technology.
According to undated files reviewed by the research center (Who Profits), a tender document published by the Israel Ministry of Construction and Housing called for companies to bid for maintenance contracts for 98 security systems in East Jerusalem, requiring the winning bidder to be capable of maintaining BriefCam software.
Israeli public records also show that in 2021, the Israeli police committed to a contract worth one million dollars to use BriefCam's video analysis systems.
A report issued in May 2023 by Amnesty International documented how surveillance technology, such as that provided by BriefCam, was a fundamental tool in "maintaining Israel's subjugation of Palestinians."
According to the report, the use of surveillance software is crucial in maintaining "ongoing domination and oppression of Palestinians,… with a record of discriminatory and inhumane acts that maintain an apartheid system."
Although the report did not mention BriefCam by name, it confirmed that "Israeli authorities are able to use facial recognition software - especially at checkpoints - to entrench current discriminatory police practices, separation, and restriction of movement, thereby violating the fundamental rights of Palestinians."
Corsight
In a previous report by Al Jazeera, it was revealed that the Israeli company "Corsight" - through a subcontract with the British company "Digital Barriers" - was chosen by the British Home Office to play a key role in expanding the scope of "facial recognition trucks," which are mobile monitoring units equipped with highly accurate surveillance cameras, linked to live facial recognition software.
Algorithmic Bias
In December, the British newspaper The Guardian published a report revealing that British ministers are facing demands for stronger safeguards on the use of facial recognition technology, after the Home Office acknowledged that this technology is more prone to misidentifying black and Asian individuals compared to their white counterparts in certain settings.
Following the latest tests conducted by the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) on the application of this technology within the national police database, the Home Office stated that it is "more likely to incorrectly include some demographic groups in search results".
Police commissioners stated that the publication of these laboratory results "highlights an inherent and concerning bias," urging caution regarding national expansion plans for using this technology.
