Tech company SuperCom, which manufactured bracelets that were used to track travelers arriving in Israel throughout the mandatory quarantine period, sent a letter to the Health Ministry this past week warning of an impending lawsuit and demanding NIS 40 million for damage caused to their reputation due to the controversial nature of the surveillance, according to a report by Globes.
Additionally, the company is stuck with thousands of bracelets after the government decided to stop using them and instead opt for an app to track people in quarantine, according to the report.
The letter sent to the Health Ministry demands "that the Israeli government use its authority to declare without delay the use of technology for the supervision of entrants who must isolate, using the electronic bracelets it made from our network and made available to the Health Ministry in early April," Globes said.
In the last few months, SuperCom's stock has dropped to $1.2 per share, lower than it was before the company was awarded the contract.
SuperCom CEO Ordan Trabelsi told The Jerusalem Post back in February that originally, the Israeli government had reached out to the company for the tracking service.
“We offered them a solution custom-built for home-quarantine," he had explained at the time. "It is up to the Health Ministry to decide the details of the project, but currently the plan is for arrivals to get tested, [and] then when they receive their results at the airport or at the coronavirus hotel, to go into quarantine at home with the solution that we provide."
The Health Ministry and SuperCom launched a pilot program to test the project. The pilot program saw Israelis arriving at Ben-Gurion Airport offered the PureTag bracelet and PureCare smartphone ahead of their required 10-14 day at-home isolation. Agreeing to wear the bracelet enabled the returnees to quarantine at home as opposed to a government-run coronavirus hotel.
Should the quarantine be violated, the bracelets won't track their location once they leave their home but will only alert authorities that the person has left the confined area.
According to the company, the bracelets were in high demand, with over 91% of travelers arriving at the airport opting for the program. However, the Health Ministry dropped the project.
Rossella Tercatin, Aaron Reich contributed to this report.