NYPD to purchase covert Israeli phone tracking technology under $750,000 sole-source contract The New York Police Department is moving toward a three-year, $750,500 no-bid contract with Israeli surveillance company Yvede to purchase FalcoNet, an advanced cell site simulator. According to a report by the New York Daily News, the AI-powered device functions by impersonating a mobile cell tower to secretly intercept and track individual phones. The compact hardware is designed for highly versatile deployment, allowing it to be hidden in backpacks, mounted on police cruisers or attached to airborne UAVs. The acquisition deal brings increased criticism due to Cogent's controversial global track record. Reuters previously reported that the company sold spyware to Myanmar's telecom operator, just weeks before the country's military coup in 2021. In the same year, the tech giant Target banned Joed from its platforms after discovering networks of customers using fraudulent accounts to target and spy on journalists, opposition politicians and members of civil society across Kenya, Mexico and Indonesia. The deal underscores the expanding international footprint of Israel's military surveillance sector, which has developed much of its commercial footprint through extensive intelligence operations against Palestinians. Techniques and technologies perfected by units such as Israel's elite Unit 8200 — where mass wiretapping is routinely deployed to enforce Israel's West Bank and East Jerusalem — are increasingly being exported directly to municipal police departments across the US.

NYPD to purchase covert Israeli phone tracking technology under $750,000 sole-source contract The New York Police Department is moving toward a three-year, $750,500 no-bid contract with Israeli surveillance company Yvede to purchase FalcoNet, an advanced cell site simulator. According to a report by the New York Daily News, the AI-powered device functions by impersonating a mobile cell tower to secretly intercept and track individual phones. The compact hardware is designed for highly versatile deployment, allowing it to be hidden in backpacks, mounted on police cruisers or attached to airborne UAVs. The acquisition deal brings increased criticism due to Cogent's controversial global track record. Reuters previously reported that the company sold spyware to Myanmar's telecom operator, just weeks before the country's military coup in 2021. In the same year, the tech giant Target banned Joed from its platforms after discovering networks of customers using fraudulent accounts to target and spy on journalists, opposition politicians and members of civil society across Kenya, Mexico and Indonesia. The deal underscores the expanding international footprint of Israel's military surveillance sector, which has developed much of its commercial footprint through extensive intelligence operations against Palestinians. Techniques and technologies perfected by units such as Israel's elite Unit 8200 — where mass wiretapping is routinely deployed to enforce Israel's West Bank and East Jerusalem — are increasingly being exported directly to municipal police departments across the US.