The Supreme Court of Israel struck down major components in the Israeli government’s nearly one-year-long use of the Israeli Security Agency (colloquially called “Shabak”) in cellular-network-based monitoring of the whereabouts of individuals for epidemiological investigations to prevent the spread of COVID-19. The Supreme Court ordered the government to cease its current widespread use of cellular-network-based monitoring by March 14, 2021. ...

On Thursday, July 23, 2020, the Israeli Ministry of Justice published for public comment the draft Protection of Privacy Bill (Amendment) (Definitions and Limiting Registration Obligations), 2020 (in Hebrew, here). The draft bill aims to reduce, but not eliminate, the obsolete duty to register databases containing personal information. At the same time, it seeks to update important definitions in ...

The Israeli government will be required to develop civilian contact-tracing technology, taking into account privacy-driven design from the outset, much like dozens of other countries around the world have done. The applications will be available for use on a voluntary basis, free of charge, and will be based on encrypted and anonymous data. These matters are proposed in a bill [Hebrew] ...