Following the scandal of Israel Police use of NSO’s Pegasus app to spy on individuals’ mobile phones, in recent days, the Justice Ministry has begun to investigate under what authority the police have been collecting information that’s stored by technology giants in the cloud, including emails, images, sound, and text files, Channel 12 reported on Sunday.
As the use of cloud storage is becoming more popular, few are aware that the police can get their hands on the information through the technology giants, without the suspect’s knowledge or opportunity to object.
Similarly, the police can access emails and correspondence, as long as it’s not transmitted via software that encrypts messages such as WhatsApp or Telegram.
This is a dramatic invasion of privacy with no legal validity. Unlike wiretapping, where, by law, the police can only listen to conversations made from the issuance of the order onward, in these cases the cops can also access past correspondence and other files.
In a discussion that was held last week in the Knesset’s Constitution Committee, Chaired by MK Gilad Kariv (Labor), it was revealed that the section of the law on which the police rely for their broad violations of people’s right to privacy, is clause 43 of the Criminal Procedure Ordinance. But reading the clause immediately reveals that it has nothing to do with stored electronic information and that the cops have been playing fast and furious with people’s rights. Here’s what the clause says:
If a judge sees that the presentation of an object is necessary or desirable for the purposes of an investigation or trial, he may invite any person, who presumably has the object in his possession, to appear and present the object at the time and place specified in the summons.
Who said creative people don’t join the police? The cops have been using the clause to get permission from judges to acquire the “object,” except the said object is not a letter, or a ledger, or a photograph, but years’ worth of data going back for as long as the cops see fit.
Committee Chairman Kariv was stunned by the police response at the hearing and told Channel 12: “The important fight against crime can only take place inside the law and within the framework of clear and understandable processes of judicial supervision. On this matter, we cannot accept gray areas. There can be no creative interpretation regarding this complex issue, and it is certainly not possible to tolerate gaps between the interpretation of the police and the interpretation of the Justice Ministry.”
Google has acted transparently regarding the number of cases in which it passed information to the Israeli authorities – and the data in Israel indicate a consistent and sharp increase in recent years. In 2020, Google turned over information on close to 1,000 users, compared to only 200 in 2015 – a 500% jump in 5 years.
Deputy Head of the Police Investigations and Intelligence Division, Lt. Gen. Yoav Telem, told the committee: “If I have a suspicion that an offense is being committed, I am required to go to the office to collect the binders there. I then apply to the court and request an order to produce documents that will be placed with the same office, which would transfer those documents to me for the purpose of performing my duties.”
“Today there are almost no binders, there are computerized folders, there are emails, so these materials are the same as binders. That’s why we approach the court asking for an order to produce documents.”
So clever. Instead of appropriating one document, the cops can stretch the court permission to shovel onto their wheelbarrow years’ worth of data.
Lt. Gen. Yoav Telem raised eyebrows and received mocking headlines a week ago when he provided the following explanation as to what police were doing with Pegasus, and why they were blameless:
“We have found automated technological anomalies of materials, about which there is a legal dispute as to whether these are illegal actions.”
Read it a few times, see if a picture is formed in your head. If it doesn’t you don’t need to see your shrink urgently.
