Shin Bet: ‘Digital tracking’ won’t be used to enforce quarantines

The Shin Bet security service says the “digital tracking” tools that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu proposed using to combat the spread of the coronavirus would not be used to enforce quarantines on people.

Earlier this evening, Netanyahu said these monitoring tools, which are normally used solely for counterterrorism purposes, would be brought into service to track carriers of the disease in order to determine who else they may have infected.

The Shin Bet confirms that this dramatic course of action, which potentially has significant privacy implications, is indeed being considered.

“It should be stressed that in any case, there is no intention of using these capabilities to enforce or monitor quarantine instructions,” the security service says.

— Judah Ari Gross