Immigration NZ news

The government is working with a surveillance firm formed by ex-Israeli spies to help meet its "legislative responsibilities" in a specific, but undisclosed ...

"Strict criteria must be met before it can be used. MBIE considers the significant capability is appropriate in light of the risks the tool is used to mitigate." Asked for more details about how people's data is stored, and whether that was in New Zealand or overseas, the ministry said this "raises technical and commercially sensitive information" and turned that into an Official Information Act request. [and promotes its ability to combat the "global problem" of social unrest](https://www.prnewswire.com/il/news-releases/cobwebs-technologies-an-israeli-firm-presents-its-anti-terror-tech-to-high-profile-us-delegation-300882579.html), by "identifying threat actors known for instigating social unrest and to [pinpoint hotspots in real-time](https://cobwebs.com/public-events-resulting-in-social-unrest/) to prevent escalations". The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment said the Cobwebs tool had significant capability and was used in a very targeted way. The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment in mid-2021 refused to release any information to RNZ about Cobwebs on security grounds. Cobwebs' work is the latest example to come to light in the public sector of an approach known overseas as "surveillance for hire". "If even a moderate event in this particular area were to eventuate, the consequences for New Zealand could be significant and costly to fix," MBIE said. "We are aware of activity overseas showing an intent (and ability) of such groups to do exactly this, specifically in response to the public release of information of the kind we are withholding, including tactically altering their behaviour, increasing their operational security or deliberately injecting misinformation to reduce the effectiveness of collection methods. The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment said the Cobwebs operations were legal, closely controlled and vital. Immigration NZ required the firm to be able to covertly collect data including people's "political information" and "religious preference", the documents show. [10-month-old investigation for the first time](https://about.fb.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Threat-Report-on-the-Surveillance-for-Hire-Industry.pdf), after forcing officials here to release information about their own dealings with Cobwebs for the first time, by appealing to the Ombudsman.