DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Surveillance cameras appear to be everywhere at the United Nations COP28 climate summit in Dubai. And that worries some.
It is unclear how the United Arab Emirates, an autocratic federation of seven sheikhdoms, uses the images it collects through its extensive network. However, the country has already deployed facial recognition at immigration gates at Dubai International Airport, the world’s busiest airport for international travel.
Surveillance cameras are increasingly part of modern life. However, experts believe the UAE has one of the highest concentrations of such cameras per capita in the world, potentially allowing authorities to track a visitor on their journey to a country without the civil liberty protections of Western countries.
“We have assumed at every point of this conference that someone is watching, someone is listening,” said Joey Shea, a researcher at Human Rights Watch who focuses on the Emirates. She and other activists assume that having a private conversation while attending COP28 is impossible.
The cameras are owned by an Emirati company that has faced espionage charges over ties to a mobile phone app identified as spyware. The company also faced claims that it could have secretly collected genetic material from Americans for the Chinese government.
That company, Presight, is a spin-off arm of Abu Dhabi firm G42, overseen by the country’s powerful national security adviser. More than 12,000 company cameras monitor the nearly 4.5 square kilometers (1.7 square miles) that comprises Dubai Expo City, including cameras with both the G42 and Presight logos positioned above multiple entrances to the Expo City’s Media Center are stationed at the top.
G42, also known as Group 42, and Presight did not respond to a request for comment.
In response to questions from The Associated Press, the Emirati committee organizing COP28 said an agreement between the UN climate department and the UAE government requires that only the UN Department of Safety and Security have access to data from security cameras in the Blue Zone, a large area where delegates negotiate, smaller meetings between non-governmental organizations take place and journalists work.
“The safety and security of all participants, including media representatives, visitors and staff, along with their data privacy, is of the utmost importance to all of us,” the committee said in a statement. “Any suggestion or accusation of invasion of privacy and misuse of personal information is unfounded.”
Images of the summit’s Green Zone, which along with the rest of the city-state are widely accessible to the general public, remain solely in the hands of the Emirati security forces.
Presight, which recently made an initial public offering on the Abu Dhabi stock market, reached a $52 million deal with Dubai Expo 2020 to install surveillance equipment at the site in front of the world’s fair venue, company documents show. Presight’s marketing materials describe the company’s system as having “easily tracked and traced millions of people and vehicles” and “identifying and preventing thousands of incidents” during that event.
There were “zero incidents of physical assault or attacks on visitors – 100% safe,” Presight claimed.
At COP28, an AP journalist counted at least six cameras in the Media Center bearing the G42 and Presight logos, some of which were aimed at work areas. Others sat outside Saturday along the route of a protest where about 500 people demonstrated.
Activists largely refused to speak publicly on Sunday about surveillance in the UAE. While participating in demonstrations, some have carefully turned over their ID badges or tried to avoid having their photos taken.
Marta Schaaf, Amnesty International’s director of climate, economic and social justice and corporate responsibility, told the AP that the seemingly ubiquitous surveillance in the UAE was creating an “environment of fear and tension.” She described it as more treacherous than COP27 in Sharm el-Sheikh. , Egypt, where suspected security service members lingered to listen to conversations and openly take photos of activists.
“Last year we saw very visible intimidation,” says Schaaf. “This year everything is much slicker. So it makes people wonder and get a little paranoid.”
The Emirates’ vast surveillance camera network first made headlines in 2010. Subsequently, Dubai police quickly gathered images of three dozen suspected Israeli Mossad intelligence operatives, some dressed as tennis players, capturing Hamas commander Mahmoud al-Mabhouh murdered a luxurious environment. hotel.
In the time since, the number and sophistication of cameras has increased. In late 2016, Dubai Police partnered with a subsidiary of Abu Dhabi-based company DarkMatter to use its “big data” application Pegasus to collect hours of surveillance videos to track everyone in the emirate. DarkMatter hired former analysts from the CIA and National Security Agency, raising concerns, especially as the UAE has harassed and imprisoned human rights activists.
In 2021, three former US intelligence and military officials admitted to providing advanced computer hacking technology to the UAE while working at DarkMatter. They agreed to pay nearly $1.7 million to resolve criminal charges.
Those charged have accessed at least one so-called ‘zero-click’ exploit for the UAE – which can break into mobile devices without any user interaction. Even though DarkMatter has been claiming for years that it has not carried out any offensive cyber attacks.
When DarkMatter faded from attention, some of the staff joined G42. Among them was Peng Xiao, CEO of G42, who led DarkMatter’s Pegasus program for years. Company documents for the G42 list Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the country’s national security adviser, as one of the company’s directors.
G42 was behind the ToTok video and voice calling app, which allowed users to make internet calls that have long been banned in the UAE. US and experts warned it was likely a spying tool, which the app’s co-creator denied.
G42 also worked during the pandemic with Chinese company BGI Group, the world’s largest genetic sequencing company that had expanded its reach during the crisis and wanted to offer services to Nevada. The state ultimately rejected the offer after warnings from federal officials, the AP reported at the time.
The US, which has about 3,500 troops in the UAE and has long served as a security guarantor, has become increasingly vocal about its concerns about the country’s ties with China. That has even led to some pressure on the G42. Xiao told The Financial Times this week that his company would cut ties with Chinese hardware suppliers due to concerns from US partners such as Microsoft and OpenAI as it ramps up its artificial intelligence activities.
“In good times and bad, as a commercial company we are in a position where we have to make a choice,” Xiao told the newspaper. “We cannot work with both parties. We can’t do that.”
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