The Israeli military deployed an AI-powered facial recognition system called Blue Wolf in the occupied West Bank that captured thousands of photos of Palestinians and matched them to a database to determine whether individuals should be arrested, detained, or left alone.
The Israeli military has been conducting a broad surveillance effort in the occupied West Bank using smartphone technology called Blue Wolf that captures photos of Palestinians' faces and matches them to an extensive database. The system has been operational for the past two years and involves soldiers using smartphones to photograph Palestinians, including children and the elderly, with the photos being uploaded via the Blue Wolf app. The app flashes different colors (yellow, red, or green) to alert soldiers whether a person should be detained, arrested, or left alone. To build the database, Israeli army units competed in photographing Palestinians, with prizes awarded for collecting the most pictures, resulting in thousands of photos being collected. The surveillance program also includes face-scanning cameras installed in Hebron and a network of CCTV cameras providing real-time monitoring. A related system called White Wolf allows Jewish settlers to scan Palestinian ID cards before Palestinians enter settlements. Former Israeli soldiers who spoke anonymously described the system as a 'Facebook for Palestinians' and expressed discomfort with the extensive surveillance, with one calling it a 'total violation of privacy of an entire people.' Palestinian residents in Hebron report feeling constantly watched and have changed their behavior, with some families moving away due to the surveillance pressure.
Domain classification, causal taxonomy, severity scores, and national security assessments were LLM-classified and may contain errors.
AI systems that memorize and leak sensitive personal data or infer private information about individuals without their consent. Unexpected or unauthorized sharing of data and information can compromise user expectation of privacy, assist identity theft, or cause loss of confidential intellectual property.
AI system
Due to a decision or action made by an AI system
Intentional
Due to an expected outcome from pursuing a goal
Post-deployment
Occurring after the AI model has been trained and deployed