The protests in the United States affect the lives of many black Americans, but they may also affect the lives of Palestinians, and the common factor among them is a new technology accused of racism and an Israeli company sees it from a different perspective.
And last month, the death of black American citizen George Floyd - suffocated under the knee of a policeman - sparked fears of unfairly using facial recognition technology against protesters, as the bias in artificial intelligence is documented and known.
Predictive police algorithms disproportionately target black-majority neighborhoods, facial recognition systems often cannot precisely identify black skin owners, and the black community is also monitored at a disproportionate rate.
An investigation into technology and racism
In this context, Motherboard, the technology specialist, questioned 43 companies working on developing facial recognition technology about whether the police used their face recognition technology, and whether these companies support the protests of "black lives are important", And whether to commit to stop developing facial recognition technology and a commitment not to work with the police.
Most of the companies to which the questions were asked remained silent except for the companies that had a counter position on this technology, but what is striking is the response of the Israeli company Any Vision, which specializes in this technology, where Adam Devin, head of marketing at Ann Vision, answered the questions posed. Subsequently:
1. Does the police use your facial recognition technology?
Police do not use Annie Facial recognition technology, but we believe it can and should be used by law enforcement officials.
2. Do you support the protests of black lives?
It will be easy to answer this question with an accurate, general statement and approved by the Public Relations Department devoid of any real meaning. But damn it. We are a startup with roots in Israel, a country that has had to find its way into existence, facing a constant threat, and inhabited by a persecuted people for thousands of years. We support every effort, big or small, quiet or noisy, peaceful or violent, that requires and earns equality, respect and safety for every race, sexual orientation, gender and religion.
The marketing official’s response bears a clear contradiction, as it brings the black people of Israel to fight persecution, but at the same time supports the use of technology against them by agreeing to provide law enforcement forces with this technology accused of bias, and his company is accused by human rights organizations of providing the Israeli occupation forces with this technology to monitor Thousands of Palestinians in the West Bank.
Microsoft's response to the Israeli company
Face recognition technology is used in Israel by Any Vision, which is headquartered in Israel, but also has offices in the United States, United Kingdom and Singapore, and the company sells an advanced "tactical surveillance" software system called "Better Tomoro" ( Better Tomorrow).
Author Olivia Solon says in a long investigation published by the "NBC News" news website, that the Peter Tomuru program allows Israeli company clients to identify individuals and objects in any live camera broadcast, such as security cameras or smart phones, and then track the targets as they move between different broadcasts .
The author quotes five sources familiar with this matter, that AnnieVision is running a secret army surveillance project across the West Bank. One of the sources mentioned that the project's codename is "Google Ayosh", where "Ayush" symbolizes the occupied Palestinian territories, and "Google" indicates the ability of technology to search for people. The American company, Google, is not related to the project.
The author says that this surveillance project was so successful that I, Vision, won the highest defense award in Israel in 2018, and during his presentation, the Israeli Minister of Defense praised the company - without using its name - to prevent it "hundreds of terrorist attacks" using "a large amount of data".
The Israeli company has been criticized for providing this technology to the Israeli Defense Forces, forcing the international software company Microsoft to withdraw its investment in the Israeli company accused of employing facial recognition technology in monitoring the Palestinians last March.
Since one of the arms of Microsoft - which is based in Tel Aviv - invested $ 74 million in Annie Vision in June, the international software company began to come under criticism after it revealed a report broadcast by the American television channel NBC in October / Last October, it was related to a "secret military surveillance project throughout the West Bank."
Microsoft conducted a review led by former US Attorney General Eric Holder on the use of the company's technology at checkpoints at Israeli checkpoints, and decided last March that it would distance itself from Annie Vision, citing concerns about ethical oversight, adding that it would end investments in recognition technology companies on the face.
Middle East Eye notes that Microsoft previously published six ethical principles to regulate its use of facial recognition technology in 2018, before investing in Annision.
The sixth principle says, "We will defend guarantees of democratic freedoms for individuals in law enforcement monitoring scenarios, and we will not deploy face recognition technology in scenarios that we believe will put these freedoms at risk."
Corporate reactions
And the reaction of major technology companies to provide law enforcement with face recognition technology last week, after IBM announced a complete halt to the development work of this technology, Amazon froze its cooperation with local police departments that use its technology for a year .
Microsoft recently announced its intention to stop providing the police with this technology until a federal law is issued regulating the use of this technology.
Biased technology or biased use?
Face recognition technology faces widespread criticism, as rights groups say they can lead to political control and limit freedom of expression.
Observers point to the use of this technology by China against its Uighur population, and that 90 human rights groups from all over the world published in Tirana, Albania a declaration calling for the cessation of facial recognition technology that allows collective monitoring.
The declaration says that human rights groups recognize the increasing use of this technology for commercial services, government administration and police jobs, but it warns against developing this technology from specialized systems to a strong integrated network capable of collective monitoring and political control.
Shankar Narayan, director of the Technology and Freedom Project at the American Civil Liberties Union, says, "The basic premise of any free society is that you should not be subject to government tracking without any wrongdoing, you are innocent until proven guilty."
"The widespread use of face monitoring turns the freedom assumption upside down, and it begins to become a society in which everyone is traced regardless of what they do all the time," he added.