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Human rights activists are sounding the alarm, have the law enforcement officers crossed the permissible line?
The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) has signed a multi-million dollar contract with the Israeli company Cobwebs Technologies to purchase a software package for mass collection and analysis of geolocation data of citizens.
The system provided by Cobwebs consists of two main platforms. The first, called Tangle, is described as a web analytics platform that allows you to search on the Internet, social networks, and even the darknet. Tangles can be equipped with artificial intelligence with image, face, and character recognition capabilities.
The second, weBloc, is described as a real-time location system that allows you to track people's movements around the city with high accuracy. It was the weBloc platform that raised concerns about possible violations of the civil rights and privacy of Los Angeles residents.
Information about the transaction was made public through requests under the Freedom of Information Act. According to the documents, the contract was signed a year ago, in October 2022, and is designed for a year. During this time, the LAPD planned to test weBloc and prepare a report on the effectiveness of its use.
In the course of its operation, the weBloc platform collects and processes large amounts of geolocation data and allows you to analyze certain geofences for suspicious activity, which is immediately reported to the police.
The data sources for weBloc are not exactly known, but they are probably so-called mobile data brokers. That is, companies that collect information about smartphone users from their online activity and sell this information to other organizations.
Civil society activists are concerned that the use of such data allows the police to actually circumvent the constitutional norms on the mandatory presentation of a warrant for surveillance of citizens.
Cobwebs Technologies was founded in 2015 by three Israeli Army veterans. So far, the company has signed contracts mainly with intelligence agencies, as well as with the US tax police and the Texas police. The cost of an annual license of their spy system is estimated at about 200 thousand dollars.
Neither LAPD nor Cobwebs Technologies representatives have yet commented on the deal and the capabilities of weBloc technology.
The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) has signed a multi-million dollar contract with the Israeli company Cobwebs Technologies to purchase a software package for mass collection and analysis of geolocation data of citizens.
The system provided by Cobwebs consists of two main platforms. The first, called Tangle, is described as a web analytics platform that allows you to search on the Internet, social networks, and even the darknet. Tangles can be equipped with artificial intelligence with image, face, and character recognition capabilities.
The second, weBloc, is described as a real-time location system that allows you to track people's movements around the city with high accuracy. It was the weBloc platform that raised concerns about possible violations of the civil rights and privacy of Los Angeles residents.
Information about the transaction was made public through requests under the Freedom of Information Act. According to the documents, the contract was signed a year ago, in October 2022, and is designed for a year. During this time, the LAPD planned to test weBloc and prepare a report on the effectiveness of its use.
In the course of its operation, the weBloc platform collects and processes large amounts of geolocation data and allows you to analyze certain geofences for suspicious activity, which is immediately reported to the police.
The data sources for weBloc are not exactly known, but they are probably so-called mobile data brokers. That is, companies that collect information about smartphone users from their online activity and sell this information to other organizations.
Civil society activists are concerned that the use of such data allows the police to actually circumvent the constitutional norms on the mandatory presentation of a warrant for surveillance of citizens.
Cobwebs Technologies was founded in 2015 by three Israeli Army veterans. So far, the company has signed contracts mainly with intelligence agencies, as well as with the US tax police and the Texas police. The cost of an annual license of their spy system is estimated at about 200 thousand dollars.
Neither LAPD nor Cobwebs Technologies representatives have yet commented on the deal and the capabilities of weBloc technology.
