If you’ve just scanned a QR code, that means you’ve just encountered a surveillance camera that utilises military-grade Israeli surveillance technology with ’emotional recognition’ capabilities, and which has been in use in Glasgow since 2014.
Israeli company NICE Ltd (Neptune Intelligence Computer Engineering), itself owned by Israeli arms manufacturer Elbit Systems, has previously announced that “Scotland’s largest city is using NICE’s advanced PSIM and video management solutions for daily operations and major events”.
Glasgow City Council “confirmed that components of the visual analytics software have been phased into use since April 2015, but the Suspect Search capability was not yet operational”, going on to claim, without details, that the full capabilities of the system would not be made operational.
NICE Systems was established by seven ex-officers who had served in intelligence-gathering Unit 8200 of the Israeli army. In the same year poisonous fruits of this experience were deployed in Glasgow, forty-three Unit 8200 veterans, many still reservists, signed a letter refusing to serve in the occupied Palestinian territories over what they said was abusive gathering of Palestinians’ private information.
According to the veterans, Unit 8200 gathered information on subjects’ sexual preferences or health problems so that it “might be used to extort people into becoming informants”.
We have submitted a Freedom of Information request to Glasgow City Council on how they utilise this Israeli Surveillance Technology in their cameras and are due a response in the next few weeks, keep checking this page for updates on this request.
How can I get involved in the campaign?
Join one of our meetings at the Ark. These are held every second Sunday at 2pm at the Ark in Govanhill. Check out our events page or social media to find out whtn the next meeting is
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GGEC Update – 8 April 2024
In 2014, Glasgow City Council entered into a contract with Israeli military-grade intelligence company Neptune Intelligent Computer Engineering (NICE) to run their city centre surveillance operations.
NICE subsequently sold their video management element to Israeli company Qognify, now part of the Hexagon group of firms.
Glasgow Council’s contract for surveillance services is now with CGI, which has its own contract with Qognify.
As stated in a Freedom of Information (FoI) reply seen by GGEC:
“We can confirm that the current Public Space CCTV system in Glasgow is in part supported by an Israeli organisation called Qognify.”
“This is a standard CCTV system which provides the connectivity to the cameras and incident management capability for operations.”
In effect, Qognify run the video management element of CGI’s Public Space CCTV system on behalf of Glasgow Council.
Qognify’s CEO and president Moti Shabtai was a founding figure at NICE – you can hear him speaking here
Qognify’s main research and development operation is based in Israel.
This puts Glasgow Council in an ongoing relationship with associate companies deeply-linked into the Israeli military-intelligence sector.
GGEC await replies to further FoI enquiries to Glasgow Council on specific details of these contracts, procurement policies, and functioning of its Public Space surveillance system.
GGEC consider Glasgow Council’s contractual relationship with CGI/Qognify to be incompatible with the Council’s recently-adopted motion in support of Palestine.
In particular, it potentially violates the Council’s pledge not to be party to any relationship that may, directly or indirectly, enable the genocide, as instructed in the recent rulings of the International Court of Justice.
We consider it legally and morally untenable that companies grounded in industries serving to murder and surveil the people of Gaza should be contracted to monitor and collect data on the people of Glasgow.
GGEC will work with parties and others, inside and outside the City Chambers, to ensure that the assurances of sound legal and ethical practices made by Glasgow Council in its motion are duly honoured, in order to have this contract terminated.