FPF-Israel Annual recap-2024 in Review

Overview

As 2024 draws to a close, we reflect on a year of unprecedented challenges, set against the backdrop of political, social, and security crises that have shaken the Middle East. The region faced a range of complex issues, unlike anything seen before, with security concerns taking center stage and pushing privacy matters to the periphery.

Despite this turbulent environment, FPF-Israel has persevered in addressing the pressing challenges the crisis has brought to light, particularly about memory and commemorative aspects and the delicate balance between national security, privacy and data protection. 

Amid ongoing crises, Israel’s privacy protection law was significantly amended, primarily focused on significantly empowering the Privacy Protection Authority to effectively address the growing challenges of data protection in the 21st century. These changes help align Israel’s privacy standards with global norms, despite geopolitical instability.

Though 2024 was a year of hardship, FPF-Israel’s resilience and dedication to its mission have remained steadfast. By continuing to advocate for privacy in an era of rapid technological advancements and security concerns, FPF-Israel has shown that even in the most difficult of times, the future of privacy must remain a priority.

Here are some of FPF-Israel’s biggest moments of 2024:

• Data Subject Rights in Israeli Law (available in Hebrew) – Data protection legislation centers on giving individuals control over their personal information, primarily through consent. However, as data processing has advanced, it’s clear that consent alone isn’t enough. This has led to the inclusion of additional rights to provide stronger protection.
• סקירה של תיקון מס’ 13 לחוק הגנת הפרטיות, approved on August 5, 2024 by the Israeli Knesset showcasing a comparison of Amendment No. 13 to Israel’s Privacy Protection Act with the GDPR (EU) and CCPA (California).
• Hebrew podcast CyberCyber with Noam Rotem, Ido Keinan, and Adv. Rivki Dvash, FPF-Israel’s Senior Fellow.
• Privacy at war webinar – FPF-Israel hosted two webinars exploring privacy issues during wartime. Despite being seen by some as an unnecessary luxury in the digital age, privacy tends to be further overlooked in times of conflict. Much like the proverbial muses, when the cannons roar, privacy remains silent. Here is a  summary of first webinar and summary of second webinar.
• AI Policy in Israel (available in Hebrew) – Artificial intelligence is facing increasing scrutiny in technology regulation, with challenges around neutrality, algorithmic transparency, and privacy protection. On December 17,  Israel’s Ministry of Innovation, Science, and Technology released a new AI policy. This document reviews the regulatory background, key principles of the policy, and offers brief comments on its pros and cons.

All reviews, briefs, reports, and analyses were authored by Adv. Rivki Dvash, Senior Fellow at FPF-Israel.

Adv. Rivki Dvash speaking at the annual conference of Israeli Association for Legislation held at Tel Aviv University on the topic: “Legislation in times of emergency and the day after”