© Emil SalmanPalestinians at biometric gate entering Israel, Qalandiyah Crossing
US technology company Microsoft says it is investigating
whether the use of facial recognition technology developed by an Israeli startup it funded "complies with its ethics principles," following reports that Israel uses the company's facial recognition technology for surveillance on Palestinians.Microsoft, which is based near Seattle, Washington, said in a statement Friday that former US Attorney General Eric Holder would lead a team from law firm Covington & Burling to conduct the probe. Holder, the top US legal and law endorsement official under former President Barack Obama, was hired by Uber Technologies in 2017 to review claims of sexual harassment.
M12, the venture fund of Microsoft, participated in a $74 million investment in June on AnyVision, an Israeli startup based outside Tel Aviv. AnyVision has come under scrutiny following reports by NBC News and Israeli media that
its technology is used to surveil Palestinians who live in the occupied territories. AnyVision has denied the reports, claiming its software was not used for surveillance and was deployed at border crossings for biometric identification.
The probe reflects growing unease about facial recognition surveillance in the United States and elsewhere that human rights organizations say could limit freedom of expression and lead to unfair arrests.Microsoft announced facial recognition ethics principles last year, saying the company would
"advocate for safeguards for people's democratic freedoms in law enforcement surveillance scenarios and will not deploy facial recognition technology in scenarios that we believe will put these freedoms at risk."
Israel has faced growing criticism and boycott in the West for its occupation and inhumane policies against the Palestinians.
Since his election, US President Trump has taken a series of steps to increase American support for Israel, including recognizing Jerusalem al-Quds as Israel's capital, as well as recognizing Israeli sovereignty over Syria's Golan Heights.
Polls show that Trump's close relationship with Netanyahu has weakened sympathy for Israel among Democratic and Jewish voters. Among liberal Democrats, there is now almost an even split between those saying they sympathize with the Israeli side and the Palestinian one, according to a Gallup poll in February.
Comment: Does Microsoft have scruples or could it be overwhelming criticism is bad for business?
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Haaretz published a report in mid-July that said the Israeli army was using AnyVision's technology at checkpoints on the way into Israel and across a network of cameras within the West Bank.
Referring to Israel's occupation of the West Bank, Amos Toh, a senior researcher on artificial intelligence at New York-based Human Rights Watch, told the American magazine, Forbes, earlier this month that the use of such technology "in a very fraught political context" could be problematic.
"I think it's incumbent on Microsoft to really look at what that means for the human rights risk associated with the investment in a company that's providing this technology to an occupying power," Toh said, adding "It's not just privacy risk but a privacy risk associated with a minority group that has suffered repression and persecution for a long time. There are special considerations of discrimination there."
According to Forbes, Microsoft was also censured by cybersecurity entrepreneur Matt Suiche, who described the investment in AnyVision as "scandalous."
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) also condemned the investment.
Neema Singh Guliani, senior legislative counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union, said the bill "falls woefully short of protecting people's privacy rights."
Shankar Narayan, the director of the Technology and Liberty Project at the ACLU, told Forbes he had met with Microsoft officials last year and at the time the company seemed to be open to the idea of holding back the spread of the facial recognition technology.
Saudi Arabia has reportedly bought $300 million worth of spy software from Israel to spy on its own people and track human rights advocates.
Forbes noted that AnyVision has ties to the Israeli spy agency and military, with former Mossad chief Tamir Pardo presiding the firm's advisory board and Amir Kain, former head of the so-called security department of Israel's ministry of military affairs, being its president.
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