Rami Levi mobile officials suspected of privacy invasion for personal gain

The system that records communication data was meant to be used strictly for the purpose of fraud prevention. Rami Levy officials used it to spy on employees and reporters.

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
Different types of 4G, 5G and data radio relay antennas for mobile phone networks are pictured on a relay mast operated by Vodafone in Berlin, Germany April 8, 2019. (photo credit: FABRIZIO BENSCH / REUTERS)
Different types of 4G, 5G and data radio relay antennas for mobile phone networks are pictured on a relay mast operated by Vodafone in Berlin, Germany April 8, 2019.
(photo credit: FABRIZIO BENSCH / REUTERS)
Officials in the Rami Levi mobile phone service company may be charged with invasion of privacy amid allegations that they misused a system that records communication data to spy on employees and reporters, according to The Jerusalem Post's sister publication Maariv.
Rami Levi Communications gained access to the system when it connected with the Pelephone communications company. The recording system was meant to be used strictly for the purpose of fraud prevention.
From 2011-2016, the system was used hundreds of times to trace, detect and investigate people, both employees and people outside the company, without their knowledge or agreement. The system was used for personal and business needs in a way that became a repetitive pattern of action to clarify certain issues.
In 2013, Rami Levi Communications Director Ofir Attias's house was broken into. In order to locate the suspects, Shlomo Julian, responsible for security in the company, checked various phone numbers in the system. Julian also used the system to look into someone involved in a small claims case against the Rami Levi company. In yet another case, Julian used the system to look into multiple reporters after a negative article was written about the company.
The system was also used to look into employees of a company owned by the Rami Levy company due to concerns that they were trying to form a union.
The prosecutors claim that the checks conducted on the system went against the purpose of the system and breached the duty of confidentiality provided by the law for a person's private affairs in a way that could be used to harass a person and contrary to the law on the use of a database.
Attias, Julian, Shmuel Levi, the chief operating officer, and Ephraim Yehudai, chief security officer in the company, are the suspects in the case.


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