..."#AlJazeera captured the underlying posture in a 2014 email referenced in the files. The reporting does not frame this as a theoretical debate. It presents an #operational sequence: #insecurity creates #political demand; demand legitimizes #foreign “#solutions”; “solutions” generate access, which is then #leveraged into broader deals.

#DropSite reported that in May 2015, Barak and his business partner, Gary Fegel, made a $15 million investment in FST #Biometrics, a #facialrecognition / #accesscontrol firm founded by Aharon Ze’evi Farkash, a former head of [#IOF] #military #intelligence.

The #technology’s lineage matters to how it was marketed. Drop Site reported that Farkash developed the concept of “#remote #identification” during the Second #Palestinian #Intifada at [IOF] checkpoints on the #Gaza border; in 2003, [IOF] deployed the “Basel” system at the #ErezCrossing, using facial scans to identify and process #Palestinians going to work....

In #Nigeria, the same reporting describes how Boko Haram’s attacks—often framed through a sectarian lens—created a ready-made narrative for pitching #biometriccontrol at a #Christian institution. Drop Site reported that a pilot was implemented at #BabcockUniversity, and by July 2015, an “in-motion #identification” system was live, with staff #training and #promotionallanguage emphasizing the #filtering of “unwanted persons.”

Al Jazeera’s account similarly notes that a #pressrelease at the time boasted the technology would “filter away all unwanted persons,” presenting #surveillance as safety while normalizing #populationcontrol logics in a #crisis setting..."