August 2020
On Aug. 2nd, the Israeli Supreme Court held a hearing regarding the legality of the procedure of content removal request the Israeli Attorney General Office (AGO) send to Internet Intermediaries. The Clinic on Human Rights in Cyberspace on behalf of the Israeli Freedom of Information Movement has filed an Amicus Curiea brief arguing the AGO acts are far from being transparent. Read our position. The Court ordered the state to specify by the middle of September the legal source to use such authority.
July 2020
The Clinic on Digital Rights in CyberSpace wrote to the Minister of Justice requesting him to amend the Israeli Law and to allow class action due to violations of privacy under certain circumstances. During our activity we came to realize that current law doesn’t provide sufficient protection, and unfortunately many victims remain helpless. Class Actions could be an efficient tool to deter from causing such harms.
June 2020
May 2020
Amir Cahane, Dafna Dror-Shpoliansky researchers from the Cyber Center and Dana Yaffe from the Clinic The Clinic on Digital Rights in Cyberspace sent comments to the Ministry of Prime minister on a Bill proposing to authorize the Secret Services to use data locations and contact details of cellular networks, in order to detect people who were near Covid19 patients. All as part of the efforts to cope with the Corona virus. We argue that at this point there is no need for such invasive authorizations that violate basic human rights in Israel. In addition, we are under the impression that less invasive technologies were not considered thoroughly enough. Read the comments: Hebrew.
The clinic on Digital Rights in Cyberspace has wrote to the CEO of the National Insurance Institute (NII) following their reply in which they state that NII investigators use manual surveillance of social media discourse as part of their investigations. Such acts violate the rights to freedom of speech, privacy, access to information and access to administrative procedures. We argue that the NII is not authorize to use such measures under existing law. In addition, we offer some guidelines for the use of these measures, to minimize the harms they cause, and facilitates public supervision. Read the letter: Hebrew.
March 2020
The Clinic on Human Rights in CyberSpace successfully represented two women who suffered from sexual harassment online after a fake profile impersonating them was created on dating sites. Thanks to our letter, “OkCupid” found and blocked one of the profiles. According to OkCupid, they take measures to prevent the reactivation of such a profile. Unfortunately, the Israeli site “TotalChat” has not reply yet. However, our brave client told her story on social networks. A woman who suffered from similar harassments saw her post, contacted her, and they realized the offender is a man they both know. They filed a complaint against him in the police.
The Clinic on Human Rights in Cyberspace together with privacy experts and activists wrote to the Ministry of Health in request to publish the contract between the Ministry, MyHeritage, and BGI to conduct Corona virus tests. The transparency is the first step to ensure sufficient protection to patients’ genetic data and privacy. Read the letter: Hebrew.
Amir Cahane and the Clinic The Clinic on Digital Rights in Cyberspace sent comments to the Ministry of Justice on a Bill proposing to authorize the police to use data locations of cellular networks, in order to uphold the isolation orders. All as part of the efforts to cope with the Corona virus. Our comments focused on the need to set clear boundaries to such exceptional authority and clear transparency mechanisms, and to the usages of such sensitive data.
February 2020
January 2020
December 2019
September 2019
August 2019
July 2019
June 2019
May 2019
When and how can Facebook remove content or block users? The Clinic on Human Rights in Cyberspace and The Movement of Freedom of Information's position is that due to its influence on public discourse Facebook should be regarded as 'hybrid body' (both private and public) that is obligated to due process and transparency towards its users when it comes to content moderation. The clinic has submitted Amicus Curiae on behalf of the Movement to the Supreme Court: Hebrew. We will update after the court hearing on June 20th. Read about it in TheMarker newspaper: Hebrew.
March 2019
February 2019
January 2019
December 2018
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