The Federation of Islamic Associations of New Zealand is calling on the government to stop MBIE's use of internet-scouring tools developed by Israeli company Cobwebs Technologies. Photo: 123rf
The New Zealand Muslim community says spyware at a government ministry could be used to eavesdrop on local Palestinians communicating with family in Gaza.
The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) uses internet-scouring tools developed by an Israeli company, Cobwebs Technologies.
The Federation of Islamic Associations of New Zealand (FIANZ) in a letter to the government, made a four-point call that included an immediate stop to using Cobwebs.
"It does have the potential to track and trace and monitor the ... communications between Palestinians in New Zealand, with their families in Gaza," said spokesperson Abdur Razzaq.
"The only solace they have is to communicate with their people.
"We want it to be stopped straightaway because there is no external, democratic oversight of this software."
The ministry said it "can categorically state that the Cobwebs tools used at MBIE are not targeted at any specific nationality or ethnic group".
"The tools are only used for maritime mass arrival prevention," Jacqui Ellis, general manager of data, insights and intelligence said in a statement.
"While there are a range of Cobwebs tools and licences available for purchase, MBIE only has access to Cobwebs tools that allow for collection of information from publicly available online sources and anonymous browsing of publicly available online sources."
Regular audits had shown the tools were only used as approved.
It has previously said it signed the Cobwebs contract in 2020 exclusively to detect and prevent mass arrivals of migrants, such as boat people.
It does not come under the oversight legislated for at the spy agencies, SIS and GCSB.
Ministry papers RNZ has previously reported on, show it adopting a more assertive role in national security.
Ellis said the ministry was not an intelligence and security agency as it had no statutory intelligence-gathering powers.
Its activities were subject to the Privacy Act, and to oversight by the privacy commissioner, the auditor-general and the ombudsman.
Razzaq said the ministry had "gone out on their own" instead of working with the community as required under the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the mosque attacks.
Other spyware with roots in the Israeli intelligence sector has been highly controversial globally.
FIANZ in its letter also called for New Zealand to suspend a March 2020 agreement with Israel over technological innovation research and development, expel Israel's ambassador, and increase humanitarian aid to international agencies in Gaza.
It said it appreciated New Zealand's recent vote on Gaza at the UN General Assembly, but called for the government to employ urgent diplomatic advocacy to seek "a complete cessation of hostilities".