‘Lavender’ AI set to prioritise hitting targets at home with their families and is said to be using WhatsApp data for its process – but how is Israel getting hold of it?
Israel’s AI system for targeting people for murder in Gaza uses WhatsApp data among its targeting criteria, according to a report in the Israeli 972 magazine and analysis by Paul Biggar of Tech for Palestine.
The platform is marketed as encrypted ‘end to end’, supposedly offering complete security, and WhatsApp told Middle East Monitor that:
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.
However, a 2021 Freedom of Information Request to the FBI revealed that WhatsApp’s owner provides ‘near real-time’ information to US authorities – not the content of messages in most cases, but of who is sending and receiving messages:
WhatsApp will produce certain user metadata, though not actual message content, every 15 minutes in response to a pen register [a special type of federal request], the FBI says. The FBI guide explains that most messaging services do not or cannot do this and instead provide data with a lag and not in anything close to real time: “Return data provided by the companies listed below, with the exception of WhatsApp, are actually logs of latent data that are provided to law enforcement in a non-real-time manner and may impact investigations due to delivery delays.”
This potentially fits with reports in Israeli media that Israel is using an artificial intelligence platform named ‘Lavender’ to identify thousands of human targets in Gaza and flag them for an airstrike, with WhatsApp data forming a key part of the AI’s decision process, based on the WhatsApp connections of supposed ‘militants’ – and that the system is designed to kill large numbers of civilians. One source told 972 that when Lavender identifies a target, Israeli forces:
bombed them in homes without hesitation, as a first option. It’s much easier to bomb a family’s home. The system is built to look for them in these situations.
But of course, people are in WhatsApp groups of all kinds of topics and for all kind of reasons – and merely being in a group which has a ‘militant’ member is no guarantee of any kind of ‘guilt’ – even if the right to resist occupation is disregarded, as Israel, the US and UK do.
This pattern raises the possibility that Israel is obtaining WhatsApp data, whether directly or from the US government. Another possibility is that Israel is accessing the data through the notorious ‘Pegasus’ hacking programme that has been shown to target WhatsApp users, hijacking their phones through WhatsApp even, in the later Pegasus versions, if they don’t open any suspicious links. Journalists, politicians, human rights activists and others are known to have been hacked by governments using the software, including its use by the Saudis against dissident Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
So serious was the issue that in 2021 tech firm Apple sued NSO, the maker of Pegasus, for targeting Apple users. NSO claimed that the software is used only against ‘terrorists’ – as which Israel, the UK, US and some others have designated Palestinian resistance groups – but there is clearly no guarantee that the definition of ‘terrorist’ is not extended in practice to anyone targeted by Israel. Biggar has accused WhatsApp’s owners of breaking international law and violating human rights.
Facebook, which belongs to the same Meta parent group as WhatsApp, has been accused of shutting down the circulation of pro-Palestinian and anti-Zionist posts and treating the term ‘Zionist’ as hate speech. In 2020, the company admitted changing its algorithms to filter out left-wing news and analysis from users’ feeds while allowing right-wing propaganda to flow unchecked.
However Israel is accessing the WhatsApp data it is said to be using to target Palestinians and their families, undoubtedly a war crime, the news that it is doing so is a warning for those who dissent from Establishment narratives and use ‘private’ messaging services to do so.
Meta continued its statement to Middle East Monitor:
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.
The US and UK governments, however, continue to insist that Israel is following international law and recognised human rights standards, even as it murders tens of thousands of civilians, mostly women and children.
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AI misused for barbarism?
Western companies & Govts complicit?
Death sentence by dodgy data?
ICJ needs to broaden its arrest warrants.
The first Genocide in the 20th century was by the Belgium Imperialists in Congo (10m slaughtered) for profit to steal its natural resources.
Second by Germany and it was German Big Business that got Hitler over the line pouring millions into the Nazi coffers (6 million perished, if Red Army fight back had not been so ferocious they had plans in place for 10m) (Touse).
And now we argue the third is in Gaza, USA/Israel promote arms sales, want to steal Gaza’s land, gas, oil + build a new canal in Levant to rival the Suez Canal (all of this will benefit Europe too). Palestinians being slaughtered & dispersed for profit – the commonality with all three.
Misused by human designers AI Genocide In, AI Genocide Out?
Ceasefire Now!
Free all hostages including the 10,000 Palestinians in Israeli jails including women & 160 children often on no charges/flimsy charges.
Get aid in urgently.
Talks! Peace!
“One Secular Democratic State” (H.Eid) and “A new Palestinian grassroots approach.”
Regulate AI.
Yours In Peace.
Whether the Palestinian ‘target data” are provided by META, the owners of Facebook and WhatsApp,
The National Security Agency (NSA), the US main intelligence agency of the United States Department of Defense, or NSO*, that renowned Israeli cyber-intelligence firm built on its proprietary spyware, Pegasus, one thing is certain:-
Technology is being used more to harm and oppress people (and kill Palestinians), than help us.
This is not a good time to have a servant of the security services like Keir ‘show-me-your-papers’ Starmer as Prime Minister.
_
* (NSO standing for Niv, Shalev and Omri, the names of the company’s founders).
Fingers crossed for ICC Arrest Warren’s against Netanyahoo and others
Is this the Yanks and the Wests excuse to stop sending Arms to Israel, legally they would no longer have a leg to stand on
Meanwhile, on campuses in the USA…..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5wvJRqNagEA
Another example of the unwritten US/Western elite Oligarch’s imposed “Rules Based Order.”
Can you imagine the hue and cry which would go up from the bought & paid for Western political & media classes if people exercising their right to protest – including a presidential candidate – were arrested in this manner anywhere outside the Collective West? In say, Russia or China? Iran or anywhere else who refused to bend the knee to these psychotic robber barons?
There would be lurid headlines & denunciations calling for immediate regime change. The sleeper cell NGO’s would be mobilised to foment the blatant interference of a colour revolution. The faux indignation would be off the scale.
As regards the arrest warrants it’s about time.
Though to be consistent they can issue arrest warrants for all those aiding, abetting & supporting this televised genocide.
Such as: the entire White House; the collective MIC; the entire Western political & media class from Biden to Sunak; Macron to Starmer; Von der crazy to Nuland; Stolenberg to ‘Jungle’ Joe; & everyone in between including those pulling the strings from Soros to Gates, the Rothchild’s to the Koch’s and the talking media heads acting as shills for these crimes (and not forgetting the cheerleaders on SM), the mercenaries & other ‘officially sanctioned’ criminals regardless of military rank or uniform; and every single police officer arresting peaceful protesters – ie anyone who carried out an illegal order or act under international law.
Sod MAGA. Its time to Make Democracy Ours Again.
Dave – “Can you imagine the hue and cry which would go up from the bought & paid for Western political & media classes if people exercising their right to protest – including a presidential candidate – were arrested in this manner anywhere outside the Collective West? In say, Russia or China? Iran or anywhere else who refused to bend the knee to these psychotic robber barons?”
Are you having a laugh?
…….and there was I thinking that it was common practise in both Russia and China to detain, torture and imprison protesters 😔
People in Russia are not able to protest peacefully without fear of reprisals. A week into its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Russia introduced war censorship laws to make criticism the invasion a grave offence. Two years on, many people are serving lengthy prison sentences for peaceful anti-war dissent.
Russia’s war censorship laws, introduced in March 2022, criminalized criticism of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, and of war crimes committed by Russian forces, as “fakes” and “discreditation” of the Russian Armed Forces (Articles 207.3 and 280.3 of the Criminal Code), carrying a maximum sentence of 15 years’ imprisonment.
And your specific sources for this Billy? – Because two can play at the game of asking for specifics.
Would it perchance be those “trustworthy” sources whose record includes:
-The fake news of WMD’s in Iraq?
– The fake news of Babies ripped out of incubators in Kuwait?
– The fake news of the Gulf of Tonkin “incident”?
– The suppression of information of the Israeli attack on the USS Liberty?
– The suppression for decades of the information that the Soviet Union installed missiles in Cuba in response to the USA installing Jupiter missiles in Turkey?
– The suppression of information across the collective West – published in even Israeli media – that the IDF were responsible for the deaths of many Israeli citizens on October 7 2023?
– The fake news of the Zinoviev letter?
– The fake news of just about everything which has come out of the neo-nazi Ukrainian regime you shill for – from the ‘Ghost of Kiev” to Bucha; the game changing ‘wonder weapons’ to the discredited casualty figures.
– The suppression of information about the attacks on Russian speaking Ukrainian civilians in the Donbass and Crimea since 2014 and the part played by the Western elites in and illegal coup and regime change along with undermining the Minsk Agreements which led to this conflict?
The list could fill a library.
Though its hardly surprising that someone who consistently pushes two contradictory narratives without breaking sweat; and who is so Russia and Sino phobic that they have no problem in denying the rights of those people to self defence and even Western based evidence of everything from Russian speaking civilians being slaughtered by Ukrainian fascists to the undermining of the Minsk agreements would be so gullible as to continue to trust any narrative from such well documented discredited sources.
No one here is buying this narrative Billy. Not with its well known and documented track record. Everyone here fully understands that it is you who is the one ‘having a laugh’.
Meanwhile, the irony of pushing such narratives from known unreliable sources whilst journalist Julian Assange spends another night of incarceration and with ever increasing censorship across the entire spectrum of media in the neo-liberal dictatorship of the Collective West whilst people who don’t slavishly follow the bullshit Official Narrative continuing to lose their jobs, their livelihoods and democratic rights – including in some cases the right to have a bank account and Consular Services – is lost on you is it not Billy:
https://tribunemag.co.uk/2024/04/making-palestine-solidarity-impossible
You are convincing no one. One wonders why you bother to waste your time.
Dave – …..are you getting confused, I haven’t asked for anything apart from “Are you having a laugh”. All I have done is stated some well known facts, facts which have self evidently rattled your cage.😉
I Hear The Children Crying Sandeeno;
Has it been banned yet. Disgusting, The media should put their feet down on this one sided falsehood. You can understand the shadow cabinet trying to prevent us from hearing such propaganda. Polluting the sea with their dead bodies!
Biden has no chance unless he does a complete 180, no amount of money from Jews committing Genocide can replace those votes
Trump will not stand, only matter of time before he goes down, mind you technically he can still stand while doing his porridge
Genius is knowing when to stop, Israel desperately needs to get back to the status quo, not least to repair the Iron Dome which is now practically useless
America needs to move onto its next war with China
My hope, Financial system collapses and washes all of the fuckers responsible
away
The third level ludo grand masters have begun to flood the lands and waters around China with arms and men. This is beginning to look grim.
No point in an arrest warrant and hauling the rat’s bastard netanyahu before a court.
He’s not gonna swing for his crimes. Better if someone whacks him….Along with a fair few others in that knesset.
Why would you want to give him quick and easy way out, I would rather he spent a good few years suffering behind bars haunted for the rest of his days (and beyond?) by the cries of the thousands of children he has murdered.
I agree that he should suffer eternally for his crimes and dismissal of whole sections of the worlds population as rats, snakes and lesser beings. Standing ovations, really? It is beyond belief and there are more extreme ones working brazenly in the cabinet. Seriously, how do they sleep? What the hell do they imagine during nightmares? I don’t understand humanity.