Antwerpen en Brussel: proeftuinen voor Israëlische AI-surveillance?
Wist je dat de Belgische politie in Antwerpen en Brussel dezelfde AI-surveillancesoftware gebruikt die Israël gebruikt om Palestijnen te onderdrukken?
Did you know that the Belgian police in Antwerp and Brussels use the same AI surveillance software that Israel uses to oppress Palestinians?
Today, Israël illegally occupies parts of Palestine. It sees all Palestinians as threats, and so wants to have total control over Palestinian lives. In recent years, AI-surveillance has become a crucial part of this population control.
Israel has one of the biggest surveillance industries in the world, with close connections between private companies and the Israeli military. The military gathers personal information without people’s consent. For example, you are on your way to work, but an Israeli soldier stops you. He scans your face with his phone and sees everything about you: where you live, who your friends are, your partner, where you do your groceries, your latest post on Instagram…. Based on that, it gives you a score on how dangerous you are. If the AI decides you are dangerous, you can be imprisoned without a trial. Because of the surveillance you have no freedom. Israel trains the AI on this data and then they sell it to companies and governments all over the world. So Israel’s surveillance of Palestinians is not only good for colonising their lands, but also to make money.
Belgium is one of these countries. Belgian police bought AI from the Israeli company Briefcam. The cameras in Antwerp and Brussel can do facial recognition analysis and suspicious behaviour analysis. Research has shown that Briefcam is used by the Israeli government in Occupied East Jerusalem, controlling the lives of Palestinians. We can’t know for sure, but it’s likely that it was trained with data of Palestinians. But it’s not just Belgium. The new AI Act allows for use of dangerous AI in our countries, and especially in border zones. The same kinds of technologies tested in Palestine will be used in Europe in the coming years. We have to fight for a society with human rights for all, and mass AI-surveillance cannot be a part of it.
Over de auteur
Igor Živković heeft een master in de sociaal-economische wetenschappen behaald aan de Universiteit Antwerpen, en specialiseerde nadien in ontwikkelingssamenwerking en milieurechtvaardigheid. Hij heeft onderzoek gedaan naar het discours van radicaal-rechts rond klimaatverandering en naar gender- en klimaatongelijkheid. Sindsdien heeft hij zich toegelegd op storytelling. Igor werkt momenteel als beleidsmedewerker voor Kif Kif rond online racisme, met een nadruk op AI, data en racisme.
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