The developing Arrangements Law includes many welcome initiatives to advance the State of Israel and its public services into the digital age. First and foremost, beyond the state electronically mailing official messages to residents or citizens, the use of various widgets and smart wallets is promoted in the fields of transportation and finance.
Along with partner organizations that address the right to privacy, we published a position paper welcoming the state's initiative to shift into the digital age, while also expressing concern regarding the hasty process of the initiative. It is our position that the initiative neglects to provide a sufficient opportunity for public or parliamentary debate on the proposed arrangements’ violation of privacy, the right to a fair trial, and cyber security for residents and citizens of Israel. We addressed, among other things, growing social and digital gaps, aspects of citizens' control and choice over the protection of their privacy, ensuring that others will not make use of information on them. Given that there is no particular urgency or economic necessity for the immediate transfer of these complex technological arrangements, we called on elected officials not to advance them under the Arrangements Law, so as to enable a more comprehensive public and parliamentary debate.
Partners to the Position Paper: The Israel Internet Association | Privacy Israel | Law, Technology & Cyber Clinic, Faculty of Law, University of Haifa | The Israel Democracy Institute | The Association for Civil Rights in Israel | The International Human Rights Clinic, Faculty of Law, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem