Digital Rights Weekly Update: 21- 27 February

Launching #ReconnectGaza: A global campaign to restore connectivity in Gaza

APC

7amleh – The Arab Center for the Advancement of Social Media, in collaboration with the Palestinian Digital Rights Coalition and dozens of international organizations, has launched #ReconnectGaza, a global campaign to demand rebuilding Gaza’s telecommunications network and safeguard the right to communication as a fundamental human right. This campaign comes in response to the deliberate destruction of Gaza’s telecommunications infrastructure amidst the genocidal onslaught, which has left millions cut off from the world, restricted emergency response efforts, and further crippled an already devastated economy.

The Legal Implications of AI-Enabled Surveillance and Military Operations in Palestine

State of Siege

The implementation of AI technologies in military operations and surveillance systems is raising significant legal issues in international law. Analyzing the use of AI enabled systems like ‘Lavender,’ ‘Gospel,’ and ‘Where’s Daddy’ for targeting operations in Gaza raises unique legal issues with established legal frameworks and human rights protections. These AI systems that are used to identify targets based on surveillance data function in the context of what Palestinian scholar Helga Tawil-Souri has called ‘digital occupation.’ The systems analyze hundreds of data sources, including Google Photos facial recognition, WhatsApp group memberships, and cellular information to produce targeting recommendations that Israeli forces can approve in 20 seconds. 

U.S. Tech Giants Fuel Israeli Military with AI

Misbar

For years, militaries have contracted private firms to develop custom autonomous weapons. Israel’s recent wars stand out as a key example of U.S.-made commercial AI models being used in active combat, despite warnings that these technologies were never designed to make life-or-death decisions. A recent investigation conducted by the American outlet Associated Press revealed that tech giants in the U.S. have secretly enabled Israel to use artificial intelligence and computing services to track and kill more individuals in Gaza and Lebanon. 

Why pro-Palestinian content is at the center of the TikTok ban

Mashable

The push to ban TikTok started in 2019 with a barrage of bills attempting to limit TikTok's reach. Politicians argue that under Chinese law, TikTok's parent company, ByteDance, could be forced to share user data with the Chinese government, posing a hypothetical security risk to U.S. interests. However, legislators haven't kept their comments to China alone. Some have also raised concerns about the spread of pro-Palestinian views on TikTok. This challenges the First Amendment, with activists arguing that Americans should be free to consume information, even if it includes propaganda.

Seized, settled, let: how Airbnb and Booking.com help Israelis make money from stolen Palestinian land

The Guardian

The villa with views of the Judean mountains is in a settlement located on land seized from Palestinians and considered illegal under international humanitarian law. Only a handful of Palestinians are allowed to enter this, and other, Israeli settlements in the West Bank, usually as labourers with special permits. Exclusive analysis carried out by the Guardian found 760 rooms being advertised in hotels, apartments and other holiday rentals in illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, on two of the world’s most popular tourism websites. Taken together, the listings that appear on either Airbnb or Booking.com could host more than 2,000 people as of August 2024. The villa was just one of them.

Universities nationwide used pro-Palestine protests to expand surveillance

PRISM

As part of the new policies, some universities outright ban encampments, while others place restrictions on the time, place, and shape protests can take. In some cases, schools made it more difficult for students to conceal their identity during protests by banning masks or requiring student groups to register protests. Students say the new policies are alarming, especially when coupled with the surveillance utilized by universities. This includes closed-circuit television (CCTV), facial recognition, and video analytics that can track individuals.