Israel's AI-aided system Lavender is identifying alleged 'suspects' in Gaza which the military is targeting in air strikes by tracking their WhatsApp contacts, Tech for Palestine's Paul Biggar has said....

According to software engineer and blogger, Paul Biggar, however, one key detail on the methods employed by the Lavender system that is often overlooked is the involvement of the messaging platform, WhatsApp. A major determining factor of the system’s identification is simply if an individual is in a WhatsApp group containing another suspected militant.

Aside from the inaccuracy of the method and the moral question of targeting Palestinians based on shared WhatsApp groups or social media connections, there is also notably the doubt it brings to the platform being privacy-based and guaranteeing “end-to-end” encryption for messages.

Stating that WhatsApp’s parent company, Meta, makes it complicit in Israel’s killing of “pre-crime” suspects in Gaza, Biggar accused the company of directly violating international humanitarian law, as well as its own public commitment to human rights.

These revelations are the latest evidence of Meta – formerly Facebook – aiding in the suppression of Palestinian and pro-Palestinian voices, with the platform long having been criticised for taking significant steps to shut down dissent against Israeli and Zionist narratives. Those measures have included permitting adverts promoting a holocaust against Palestinians and even attempting to flag the word ‘Zionist’ as hate speech.

Questioning the accuracy of the report, a WhatsApp spokesperson told MEMO: “We have no information that these reports are accurate. WhatsApp has no backdoors and we do not provide bulk information to any government. For over a decade, Meta has provided consistent transparency reports and those include the limited circumstances when WhatsApp information has been requested. Our principles are firm – we carefully review, validate and respond to law enforcement requests based on applicable law and consistent with internationally recognized standards, including human rights.

  • Paddzr@lemmy.world
    10·
    6 months ago

    There are local businesses who ONLY use Facebook. No website, no nothing. Not even google maps location.

    Sucks. I have a generic blank FB with my initials and that’s it.

      • Paddzr@lemmy.world
        3·
        6 months ago

        I mean I do. But there are two businesses I use twice a month where it is straight up impossible to interact with. A small business won’t see the investment into a website.

        And no. There are no alternative businesses I could deal with in +80 mile range.

        Could one live without fb? Yeah obviously. But it’s not all redundant with alternatives.

        • glasgitarrewelt@feddit.de
          2·
          6 months ago

          It’s hard to relate, because I wouldn’t even know if there are businesses in my area which only use facebook - because I don’t use facebook.

          I wanted to use a business that wanted me to send them pictures of my drive way via Whatsapp. I ended up taking my business to a different guy, who was able to work with mail. No harm done, everyone is still happy, still no need for Meta products.

          Edit: of course I acknowledge that I don’t know anything about you or your situation. You maybe really can’t work/live without facebook.

          • Paddzr@lemmy.world
            2·
            6 months ago

            Word of mouth is how you find such businesses or local boards people advertising their services. That’s 90% of it or google search taking me to their FB page.

            But yeah, if it means I can support local businesses? It’s a price worth paying by having a fb account with no activity or info.

            At the end of the day, i care about the local guy running butchers out of a truck going to spots when they have meat more than giving money to tesco who under cuts farmers. Fb allows people to have automaty. While it’s not black and white. I do admit it’s way more on the dark side.