by DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) – At the United Nations COP28 climate summit in Dubai, it seems like everywhere you turn there are surveillance cameras. And yes there are some worries.
It is not clear how the United Arab Emirates, an autocratic federation of seven sheikhdoms, uses the footage it collects across its vast network. However, the country has already deployed facial recognition at immigration gates at Dubai International Airport, the world’s busiest for international travel.
Surveillance cameras are gradually becoming a part of modern life. However, experts believe the UAE has one of the highest per capita concentrations of such cameras in the world – allowing authorities to track a visitor during their trip to a country without the civil liberties protections of Western nations.
“We have assumed at every point of this conference that someone is watching, that someone is listening,” said Joey Shea, a researcher at Human Rights Watch focused on the Emirates. She and other activists operate on the assumption that it is impossible to have a private conversation while attending COP28.
The cameras are owned by an Emirati company that has faced allegations of espionage because of its links to a mobile phone app known as spyware. The company has also faced claims that it may secretly collect genetic material from Americans for the Chinese government.
That firm, Presight, is a spin-off arm of the Abu Dhabi firm G42, overseen by the country’s powerful national security adviser. More than 12,000 cameras from the firm monitor the nearly 4.5 square kilometers (1.7 square miles) that comprise Dubai Expo City, including cameras bearing the G42 and Presight logos located above multiple entrances at the summit’s Media Center.
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 that organized COP28 said that an agreement between the UN climate arm and the UAE government calls for only the UN Department of Safety and Security to have access to data from security cameras in the Blue Zone, its a large area where delegates negotiate, smaller meetings between non-governmental organizations take place and where journalists work.
“The safety and security of all participants, including media representatives, visitors and staff, as well as their data privacy, is paramount to all of us,” the committee said in a statement. “Any suggestions or allegations of privacy violations and misuse of personal information are unfounded.”
Footage from the summit’s Green Zone, which is open to the general public, along with the rest of the city-state, is entirely in the hands of Emirati security services.
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 ahead of hosting the world’s fair, company documents show. Presight’s marketing material describes the company’s system as one that “easily tracked and tracked millions of people and vehicles” during that event and “identified and prevented thousands of incidents.”
There have been “zero instances of physical assault or assault on any visitors – 100% safe,” Presight claimed.
At COP28, an AP journalist counted at least six cameras at the Media Center bearing the G42 and Presight logos, some showing workspaces. Others sat outside on the road in protest on Saturday when around 500 people demonstrated.
Activists on Sunday largely refused to speak publicly about surveillance in the UAE. Some carefully waved their identification badges as they took part in demonstrations or tried not to have their pictures taken.
Marta Schaaf, Amnesty International’s director of climate, economic and social justice and corporate accountability, told the AP that the ubiquitous surveillance in the UAE has created “an environment of fear and tension.” She described it as more insidious than COP27 in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, which saw suspected members of the security service waiting to listen to conversations and openly photographing activists.
“Last year we saw very visible intimidation,” Schaaf said. “Everything is much greener this year. So it leaves people wondering and kind of paranoid.”
The Emirates’ vast network of surveillance cameras first hit the news in 2010. Then, Dubai police quickly put together footage showing three dozen suspected Israeli Mossad intelligence operatives, some dressed as tennis players, murdered the commander of Hamas, Mahmoud al-Mabhouh on luxury. Hotel.
Since then, cameras have increased in number and sophistication. In late 2016, Dubai police partnered with an affiliate of the Abu Dhabi-based firm DarkMatter to use its “big data” application Pegasus to pool hours of surveillance video to track anyone in the emirate. DarkMatter employed former CIA and National Security Agency analysts, which raised concerns, especially since the UAE has harassed and imprisoned human rights activists.
In 2021, three former US intelligence and military officers admitted to supplying sophisticated computer hacking technology to the UAE while working at DarkMatter. They agreed to pay nearly $1.7 million to settle criminal charges.
Those hacked for the UAE benefited from at least one “zero click” – which can break into mobile devices without any user interaction. That’s despite DarkMatter declaring for years that it was not launching aggressive cyber attacks.
As DarkMatter faded from attention, some of its staff joined G42. Among them was G42 CEO Peng Xiao, who ran the Pegasus DarkMatter program for years. Corporate documents for G42 list Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the country’s national security adviser, as one of the company’s directors.
G42 was behind video calling and voice calling app ToTok, which allowed users to make internet calls long banned in the UAE. The US and experts warned that it was a likely spying tool, which the app’s co-creator denied.
G42 also partnered during the pandemic with the Chinese firm BGI Group, the world’s largest genetic sequencing company that expanded its reach during the crisis and sought to offer services to Nevada. The state ultimately rejected the offer after warnings from federal officials, the AP reported at the time.
The United States, which has about 3,500 troops stationed in the UAE and has long acted as a guarantor of security, is increasingly vocal about its concerns about the country’s ties with China. That even saw some pressure on G42. Xiao told the Financial Times this week that his firm would cut ties with Chinese hardware suppliers because of concerns from US partners such as Microsoft and OpenAI as it ramps up its artificial intelligence business.
“For better or worse, as a commercial company, we are in a position to make a choice,” Xiao told the newspaper. “We cannot work with both sides. We can’t.”
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