Proposed legislation would add Israel Antiquities Authority and the Environmental Protection Ministry to the list of agencies with expansive data surveillance abilities.
The Justice Ministry is working on a bill meant to
increase the state’s ability to monitor Israeli citizen’s phone calls
and e-mails, Haaretz learned.
The bill represents an expansion of the government’s authority to
obtain information from communications companies, which could include
the ability to pinpoint cell phone locations, read text and e-mail
messages, as well as track computer files.
Current legislation allows for only certain law enforcement agencies to
obtain sensitive communications information, among them: the Israel
Police, the Military Police Investigative Unit, and Military Police
Internal Investigative Unit, the Justice Ministry’s unit for Internal
Police Investigations, the Israel Securities Authority, the Israel
Antitrust Authority, and the Israel Tax Authority.
The proposed bill attempts to provide similar information gathering
authority to entities such as the Israel Antiquities Authority, the
Israel Nature and Parks Authority, Ministry of Defense Security
Authority, and the Environmental Protection Ministry.
According to the Justice Ministry statedm the purpose of the bill is to
improve various aspects of the communication data law, nicknamed the
“Big Brother Law,” which was implemented in 2007.
Supporters of the proposed bill say any investigative authority was
able to retrieve communications data prior to 2007, and the so-called
“Big Brother Law,” actually prevents some organizations from doing so.
“The experiment that has gone on since the previous legislation was
made, taught us that a total prohibition against such agencies receiving
communications information unjustifiably hampers their ability to
enforce laws. Therefore, it is proposed that additional investigative
authorities be granted the ability to receive such information required
for enforcement of laws under their authority,” reads the proposal.
The proposed law differentiates between different levels of personal
information, and would require investigative authorities to request
special permission from senior Israel Police officials and prove need
for information such as pinpointed cell phone locations.
Various organizations oppose the law, including the Association for
Civil Rights in Israel, which has filed a petition against the law,
which is currently under review in the High Court of Justice.
Earlier this month, Israel's military launched a new system to monitor information on the Internet,
with censor Col. Sima Vaknin-Gil saying that the new system will
monitor visual and textual information on social networks such as
Facebook and Twitter, on blogs and on traditional news sites.
