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cellphone tracking
Illustrative image of a coronavirus tracking app (iStock)
How techies used Bluetooth’s most annoying trait to build Israel’s new COVID app
By Nathan Jeffay
A peek under the hood of Israel’s new app, now downloaded by more than a million people, which tracks and traces while keeping the government locked out of our phones
Illustrative image of a coronavirus tracking app (iStock)
August 10, 2020, 6:38 am
How techies used Bluetooth’s most annoying trait to build Israel’s new COVID app
A peek under the hood of Israel’s new app, now downloaded by more than a million people, which tracks and traces while keeping the government locked out of our phones
By Nathan Jeffay
Illustrative: A woman talks on her mobile phone at a bus stop, in Tel Aviv, on August 24, 2012. (Yaakov Naumi/Flash90/File)
July 26, 2020, 10:15 pm
Shin Bet said to have secretly tracked most Israelis’ phones for over 2.5 years
TV report says security agency got OK from Justice Ministry officials for controversial program, but few in the government were informed; Knesset, phone companies didn’t know
By TOI staff
A woman uses a cellphone as people wear face masks for fear of coronavirus in downtown Jerusalem, June 8, 2020. (Olivier Fitoussi/Flash90)
July 8, 2020, 6:17 pm
Shin Bet urges reappraisal of its own controversial cellphone tracking program
Tens of thousands of Israelis have been sent into quarantine in recent days as the internal security service revives its coronavirus contact tracing initiative
By TOI staff
Police enforce coronavirus hygiene regulations on Jaffa Street in Jerusalem, June 28, 2020. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
June 30, 2020, 8:57 am
Knesset advances bill raising fine for not wearing a face mask
Violators will be forced to pay NIS 500; vote delayed on legislation granting Shin Bet authority to use digital surveillance to contain virus spread
By Stuart Winer and TOI staff
An existing smartphone app for tracking the spread of infection which determines who has been in contact with people who have been infected with the coronavirus. (iStock)
June 26, 2020, 10:51 am
A ban from public places, or gentle persuasion? The future of virus tracking
Shin Bet is poised to resume tracking for virus fight as a stopgap solution until new voluntary app developed; experts split on how to encourage users to download such a program
By Nathan Jeffay
Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit attends an event at the Dan Hotel in Jerusalem on February 6, 2020. (Olivier Fitoussi/Flash90)
June 22, 2020, 9:29 pm
AG to consider probing leaked recordings from cabinet meetings
Mandelblit says he’ll review enraged Netanyahu’s request; latest recording sees Aryeh Deri arguing with the premier over how to handle virus’s resurgence
By TOI staff
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the weekly cabinet meeting, at the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem on June 21, 2020. (Marc Israel Sellem)
June 22, 2020, 12:36 pm
Fuming Netanyahu urges probe after leak from coronavirus cabinet meeting
Despite criticism that discussions aren’t open to the public, PM says he won’t allow repeat of leak that showed him pushing renewal of controversial digital tracking program
By TOI staff
A Magen David Adom ambulance service medic handling coronavirus tests in Jerusalem on April 19, 2020. (Nati Shohat/Flash90)
April 26, 2020, 2:18 pm
Permission for Shin Bet to track virus carriers’ phones to be extended – report
Security agency said allowed to continue program ‘until the end of the crisis’ as government unable to come up with alternative system
By TOI staff
Israeli border police wear protective gear and masks at the Ein Yael Checkpoint, near the Jerusalem Biblical Zoo, March 11, 2020. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90 )
April 22, 2020, 6:20 pm
Knesset panel freezes police tracking of phones to enforce quarantine
MKs raise concerns over wording of bill that would allow program to be extended, leading government to announce a rethink; Shin Bet tracking of carriers ongoing
By TOI staff
Police officers in protective gear stand on Route 1 near Jerusalem on April 5, 2020, after a man infected with the coronavirus was arrested on a bus traveling to the city. (Flash90)
April 8, 2020, 5:58 pm
Cabinet extends phone tracking by Shin Bet to fight coronavirus
Program, which gives domestic spy agency and police access to private cellphone and credit card data to track those infected, authorized until April 14
By TOI staff
Illustrative. (iStock)
April 6, 2020, 9:03 am
Spies are already in your phone. A highly controversial private firm may be next
Fighting the coronavirus contagion, the government has introduced extremely intrusive tracking. Now it wants to bring in the NSO Group, a company accused of human rights violations
By Simona Weinglass
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