Update: July 1999

Israel - Freedom and Protection

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5. Freedom and Protection

5.1 Copyright and intellectual property rights

The following is based on the article by Adv. Brian D. Negin, Database Protection in Israel. Adv. Negin is the General Counsel to the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics; Legal Advisor to the Israel Government Internet Committee and member of the Database Working Group of a Parliament (Knesset) sub-committee.

Israel is a signatory to the TRIPS agreement and the WIPO Copyright Treaty adopted by the Diplomatic Conference on December 20, 1966.

Israel is now drafting new copyright legislation to replace the 1911 Copyright Law and the Copyright Ordinance. These laws, in force since the time of the British Mandate, have been amended extensively throughout the years by Israel to meet its obligations under international treaties and to keep up with modern needs.

A committee of experts, chaired by Adv. Meir Gabbai, past General Director of the Ministry of Justice to propose a new Copyright Law. The Committee (referred to as the Gabbai Copyright Committee) has submitted its recommendations to the Ministry of Justice for consideration. In the context of databases is proposed that copyright protection will be given to original works which are compilations of data only, although such protection does not apply to individual facts or data.

The Gabbai Committee has also recommended that the existing State copyright be limited and should not be extended to the following: anything published in the official State Gazette (including laws, regulations, officila notices and more); and in the Knesset Records; administrative guidelines and judicial decisions; and official translations of this material.

The Working Group report of the Knesset subcommittee on "Israel's Preparation for the Information Age" recommended the creation of Government databases containing a "basic basket" of information which will be provided free of charge to the public. The Working Group also recommended that such databases not enjoy copyright protection. It made also a distiction between dissemination of database information pursuant to principles of freedom of information and the dissemination of entire databases to the private sector for the purpose of private marketing. In the latter case the Working Group recommended that such databases be made available on an equal and competitive basis to private sector businesses.
 

5.2 Privacy, data protection, consumer protection

The Protection of Privacy Law, 1981 is the legal framework created for consumer, data and privacy protection in Israel. This indicates a relatively long history relating to the protection of privacy vis a vis identified and identifiable information contained within databases.

The Law established a Registrar for databases and any data collection containing data on individuals needs to be registered; in the registration process the entity registering the data collection needs to nominate a Database director responsible for data protection and privacy and who should incur the penalties of Law in case of infringement.

Private data provided by an individual cannot be used for any other purpose than the original one for which the data has been provided. The use of such data or its transference to a third party may incurs a of up to five years in prison.

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Ammendment concerning direct mailing

An ammendment to the Protection of Privacy Law, 1981 was enacted in May 1997 (Ammendment 4 , 1996). It establishes the right of any person to request, in writing, from the owner of a direct mailing database that the information concerning himself be deleted from the database. The information to be deleted should include the name, address, phone number, fax number and any other information concerning that person. Direct mailing includes mailing in writing, printing, telephone, fax and by computer mediated communication. The ammendment establishes that the owner of a database used for direct mailings should include in any mailing he sends the registration number of the database in the Databases Registrar (at the Ministry of Justice); the identity and address of the owner of the database that served for sending the direct mailing. Persons whose personal data has been included in such database may request the deletion of the information from the mailing list as well from the database which served for the creation of such list. The owner of the list and the database have 30 days to comply and provide a written reply stating that the personal data indeed has been deleted.
 

5.3 Electronic protection, legal protection and security (encryption, electronic commerce)

Lately the regulations concerning data encryption in Israel have been eased. Until a few months ago the transmission of encrypted data in Israel was forbidden, including both mathematical devices and algorithms as well as secret languages.

The ordinance called "Order concerning the occupation with encoding devices" was issued in 1974 following the Yom Kippur War by the Chief Communications Officer in the IDF. The ordinance established that to be able to deal with any encoding devices one should have an explicit license issued by the Director and only according to the conditions established in the license. The purpose was to ensure that only official bodies use encryption and to avoid its use for civilian purposes.

The use of computers in Israel in the seventies in Israel was already well advanced and so the use of encrypted networks, specially in the financial sector so it was quite hard to enforce these guidelines. The hi-tech industry, the academia and others attempted to change this ordinance pointing out to the economic price and the consequences for technological development.

The Minister of Defense, Yitzhak Mordechai changed lately the regulations. He decided that encryption matters will now be handled by a Consulting Board of five members including a public represenative. The officer in charge will be a civilian, the General Director of the Ministry of Defense; the Ministry designated Mr. Meir Shalit, the officer in charge of security related exports, to coordinate all matters related to licensing and supervising the use of encryption related technologies and activities in Israel. The Shalit Office already published a list of products that include encryption devices that can be freely used without need of a license; the list includes the two popular Web browsers widely employed by Internet users….

The new regulations have been wellcomed by the hi-tech industry in Israel; Gil Shweid, the C.E.O. of CheckPoint, one of the leading producers and exporters of encryption devices, praised the Ministry of Defense for the willingness to adapt to the new conditions.
 

5.4 Freedom of expression and information

The Law for the Freedom of Information approved by the Parliament (Knesset) in 19.5.98 is enforced since May 29, 1999. The law resulted from the recommendations of a committee established by the former Minister of Justice, David Libay, and headed by the retired judge, Victoria Ostrowsky-Cohen. The Committee recommendations were based on a comprehensive report from 1995 and suggested that a law be legislated to anchor the principles of "the right of the public to know" .

The new law enforce the right of every citizen to receive information from public authorities. Among the authorities included are all Executive bodies, the Parliament (Knesset), the President office, and the Tribunals (regarding the administrative aspects of their work). There is an explicit obligation of these authorities to publish their internal administrative procedures. Although the law is implemented one year following its final approval by the Parliament (Knesset) the government may provide, subjec to the approval of the Law and Constitution Committee of the Parliament, additional time for some authorities to start implementing the law (but not more than three years since its approval).

Some authorities like the army, the police and the security forces and other authorities able to carry legal investigations are free from the obligation to provide the information. Authorities may also refuse to provide the information requested if its provision demands "unreasonable amount of resources" or seven years have passed since the requested information was created or received. Even in these cases the law provides that such authorities may refuse to provide the requested information the final judgment will remain with the tribunals to which the citizen may appeal in any case of refusal to provide the information.

The person requesting the information needs not provide any special reason or personal interest in the information requested.

 
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