Had a great time (albeit disrupted by two missile alarms) talking about the Israeli intelligence oversight ecosystem in the first Latin American Forum (InteLA) for Intelligence Studies.
next time, hopefully, in person!

דוח מבקר המדינה בעניין הרוגלות במשטרת ישראל: הרבה מדי, מאוחר מדי / עמיר כהנא בימים אלו אנו מציינים ארבע שנים לפרסום התחקיר של תומר גנון ב'כלכליסט' שחשף את השימוש של משטרת ישראל ברוגלות,[1] אמצעים טכנולוגיים המסוגלים (כך לפי הפרסומים) לחדור לטלפונים חכמים ולאפשר לחוקר גישה ל…

ולפוסט עצמו: israeliconstitutionalism.wordpress.com/2026/01/21/%...

רשימה חדשה באייקון על דוח המבקר בנוגע לרוגלות בשירות המשטרה. היא טוענת ששימוש בכלים טכנולוגיים בהסתמך על פרשנות משפטית כשאין חקיקה מפורשת מחייב לפרסמה בפומבי; ושממצאי הדוח הם תוצר של ההעדפה השיטתית של המשטרה להצטייד באמצעים כאלו ללא עבודת מטה סדורה והליכי רכש נאותים.

Join our next Israeli Forum for Intellignce Studies (IFIS) webinar #4.3, 'Algorithms at War: AI and the Digital Transformation of Intelligence' with @clementrenault.bsky.social .
📅 Tuesday, January 20, at 11 am EST / 17 pm CET
Contact me for Zoom URL
become a friend of IFIS here: www.ifis.co.il

Interestingly, no mention of the mandated backdoors under IPA2016 (s.253), particularly in light of recent developments regarding the Apple TCN.

www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

New paper alert! Co-authored with Michael Sierra, "Nascent Regulatory Sandbox Frameworks for AI in Israel," (Cambridge Forum FOR AI: Law & Reg) explores Israel's experimental regulation across autonomous vehicles, fintech, and broader legislative guidelines. #AIRegulation #Israel

The paper, Surveil and control? Monitoring of web activity in Israel, is accessible here:

🔗journals.sagepub.com/doi/epub/10.1177/2976864...

More data and analysis on these chilling effects is in the pipeline!

The commentary looks at state web monitoring in Israel (both of online activity as well as of passive viewing history).
These powers, governed by a lacking legal framework, appear to be mostly aimed at Israel's Arab citizens or alternatively, have intensified chilling effects within that minority.

The editorial for the special issue of @dialoguesdigsoc.bsky.social, by @robkitchin.bsky.social, @kylzjarrett.bsky.social, Jing Hiah and @steelecat717.bsky.social is out.

I am happy to have contributed my commentary 'Surveil and control?' Monitoring of web activity in Israel' to this volume.

4/ As a legal scholar, presenting to non-lawyers, but rather to an audience of intelligence studies researchers, is an opportunity to fine tune your argument and to challenge the commonly held views within your own discipline. The paper already benefited from this experience.

3/ Then, following pursuant to a theoretical analysis of SOCMINT privacy harms and a comparative review of existing mass surveillance law, the paper offers a generalized legal framework to address the unique challenges SOCMINT presents.

2/The paper argues that Social Media Intelligence (SOCMINT) should be treated and regulated as mass surveillance. It examines how the shift from classic mass media OSINT to social media requires us to reassess the right to privacy.

looking at Homeric curated online personae

This week I presented my paper "Putting OSINT in Context: How to Regulate Privacy in Public" in the Annual Israeli Conference of Intelligence Studies in
@hebrewuniversity.bsky.social, organized by the Israeli Forum for Intelligence Studies.

(photo:looking at Homeric curated online personae)

Thrilled to be presenting my paper "Putting OSINT in Context: How to Regulate Privacy in Public" in the Annual Israeli Conference of Intelligence Studies, organized by
the Israeli Forum of Intelligence Studies, this Wednesday at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

להרשמה:
🔗https://ifis.co.il

New day, new way to underscore FRT privacy harms

I will also be there to present my paper 'Putting OSINT in Context: Regulating Privacy in Public' which deals with the transformation OSINT underwent with the advent of social media, its effects on the right to privacy, and the question of regulating it.

The Annual Israeli Conference for Intelligence Studies - 2025 The Annual Israeli Conference for Intelligence Studies 2025 - Intelligence Transforamtions - October 28-29, 2025

Coming up on October 29th is the Annual Israeli Conference on Intelligence Studies.

Featuring fascinating research panels on Intelligence&AI, Intelligence after OCT7, and other topics, as well as talks by senior figures from academia, government and intelligence.
🔗to register: www.ifis.co.il

משטרת מחשבות לשנתיים נוספות? / עמיר כהנא בשקט בשקט, בחצות שלפני ערב חג, כאילו ביקש שלא למשוך תשומת לב לכך, פרסם משרד המשפטים  את תזכיר חוק המאבק בטרור להארכת תוקפה של העבירה האוסרת על צריכת פרסומי טרור.[1] העבירה נוספה לחוק כשבוע לאח…

לפני כשבוע פורסם תזכיר חוק להארכת האיסור על צריכת פרסומי טרור.

🚨בפוסט חדש בבלוג של איקון אני טוען שלחוק יש אפקט מצנן על צריכת תכנים חוקיים, ושהתיקים הספורים במסגרתם הוא מופעל לא מצדיקים את הפגיעה בחופש המחשבה, הרחבה בהרבה מגדרי האיסור הפלילי המצומצם שבלשונו.https://tinyurl.com/isatrr25

In both cases, the temptation to use LLMs - mostly not domain-specific, mostly, without sufficient resources or abilities to review its outputs - is too strong.

Whenever the occasional item about a case where lawyers were caught with AI hallucinations in their court submission, I return to think about contemporary self-representing plaintiffs, or lawyers who litigate in a language other than their native one.

Both an interesting and frustrating read.

4/ A follow up project measuring the disproportionate chilling effects of ISA surveillance in Israel is in the works.

3/ Those are not mitigated neither by the existing legal framework applying to Shin Bet’s surveillance practices nor by its proposed amendment bill (from 2023, see the oped in @lawfaremedia.org for more details).

www.lawfaremedia.org/article/expa...

2/ However, it appears that following the Gaza war these powers have more widely employed, targeting the Arab-Israeli minority. This raises concerns of disproportionate adverse chilling effects on that group.

🚨1/ New Commentary in @dialoguesdigsoc.bsky.social: "Surveil and control? Monitoring of web activity in Israel."

journals.sagepub.com/doi/epub/10....

Authorities in Israel had Legal powers to monitor both ‘active’ social media posting and 'passive' internet use history prior to October 7th 2023.

ועכשיו בתלת מימד

מאמרי "חקיקה אלגוריתמית ולקחי המודל הלוגריתמי: על מס דירה שלישית וחקיקה מבוססת נתונים" פורסם בכתב העת 'משפט חברה ותרבות'.
הגרסה הסופית זמינה כאן:

papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

Wrapping up the PrivaCI 7th Symposium, where I had the privilege to present my paper 'Putting OSINT in context: how to regulate privacy in public.'

It has been a fascinating, intense two days which showcased the variety of practical and theoretical applications of contextual integrity.

Next week I will be presenting my paper ‘Putting OSINT in context: how to regulate privacy in public’ in the 7th annual PrivaCI Symposium in Brussels, organized by imec-SMIT, Vrije Universiteit Brussel and the Brussels Privacy Hub.