Setting a controversial example, Israeli Parliament permits phone tracking to monitor coronavirus spread

Jerusalem: Israel’s parliament approved a law Wednesday granting the country’s internal security agency limited authority to use phone surveillance to track coronavirus cases as the country struggles to contain a second outbreak.

The Israeli government had authorized the Shin Bet to use the technology in March during the peak of the country’s coronavirus outbreak, despite public outcry over privacy concerns. But the country’s Supreme Court ordered the surveillance halted until the security agency’s permission was granted by law.

The Knesset, Israel’s parliament, voted 51-38 in favour of granting the Shin Bet power to use phone surveillance to retrace the steps of people infected with COVID-19 and identify others who came in contact with them in the previous two weeks.