BeIRUT: The data rights group is a warning of privacy violations and risks for people who are vulnerable after Abu Dhabi deployed the scanner at the border intersection, malls and other public locations that can detect Covid-19 in seconds.
The Department of Health Abu Dhabi said Ede scanner could confirm Covid-19 infection by measuring individual electromagnetic wave emissions, which was said to be changed when Coronavirus was present, according to a statement on June 27 by the Abu Dhabi Media Office.
The new system has a rights group and even some residents are worried.
“I went to the mall, and instead of scanning temperatures, (security guards) seemed to take pictures on the cellphone,” said Firas, a consultant who has lived in Abu Dhabi for nine months and was asked to use a pseudonym.
He said the guard told him that the telephone camera not only tested his electromagnetic emissions but also made a retinal scan, which the guard said could tell him whether Fira was vaccinated or had a recent PCR test.
The issue of the alleged scanner was associated with a digital identification system used by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to provide occupants of access to their health records, visa applications, and other official processes.
“That compromise that you made when you came here.
We signed a contract with this system in exchange for safety and security,” he said.
A media spokesman told the Thomson Reuters foundation that “the scanner was not related to any identification system and nothing was identified when scanned,” adding that the system is not prominent or storing personal data.
Authorities in the UAE are very dependent on artificial intelligence for years, including facial recognition technology.
In 2018, Dubai police launched a network of thousands of cameras – dubbed Oyon, Arabic for “eyes” – to help them fight crime throughout the Emirates.
After the Coronavirus pandemic, the UAE police were deployed by smart helmets to scan temperatures of up to 200 people who passed one minute, while the police in Dubai promised to publish photos from anyone violating restrictions at night without blurring their faces.
Matt Mahmoudi, a technology researcher at Amnesty International, called it “TradeOff Surveillance-For-Services” often seen in smart cities.
“The type of certain facial recognition (the type launched in Abu Dhabi) is worrying because mass supervision technology stands to violate the rights of the community for privacy,” he said by telephone.
UAE is rated “not free” by the US-based Freedom Think Tank house, which says state supervision from the internet is widespread, violates the user’s rights for privacy, and does not seem to be regulated by “meaningful legal supervision.” That “opaque legal framework” In particular, it can cause religious or sexual minority abuse in the emirate, mostly conservatives, said Mohamad Najem, Executive Director of the Digital Group of Lebanese-based digital rights.
Khalid Ibrahim, the executive director of the Gulf non-profit center for human rights, is also worried that the technology can cause more oversight of migrant workers in the UAE, which according to the International Labor Organization accommodates the fifth largest migrant population in the world.
The launch of the new Abu Dhabi scanner “is not transparent,” said Ibrahim, demanding further details from the government about how the technology works, the role of what facial recognition is played in it, and if security forces will have access to results.
“These are all important questions that the number of transparency that shrinks the government has not spoken,” he said.