Stephen Harper’s firm behind spy tech used in ‘dystopian’ Greek refugee camps

An investment firm led by former Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper is behind technology used to mass surveil refugees and asylum seekers in “prison-like” camps across Greece, The Breach has learned.

The spy tech, developed by Israeli start-up companies owned or backed by Harper’s venture capital fund Awz Ventures, is part of a sprawling $55 million EU-funded surveillance system known as Centaur that has been widely criticized by human rights organizations.

Greece’s Ministry of Migration is rolling out the surveillance system at dozens of camps, including one camp that an advocate told The Breach is “Europe’s testing ground” for tools and policies then spread elsewhere on the continent.

Amnesty International has described it as a “dystopian nightmare,” where mostly Middle Eastern and African refugees are unlawfully detained in conditions that lack the most basic infrastructure and services.

The Israeli companies are Viisights, which develops behavior recognition software, and Octopus, which provides command-and-control software for CCTV systems. 

AWZ Ventures, where Harper is a leading partner and heads its advisory committee, owns nearly a two-thirds stake of Octopus, while three of Harper’s colleagues sit on its board. In October 2017, AWZ gave the company $7.5 million in funding.

Viisights, for its part, raised $14.4 million from AWZ Ventures in November 2019. Its six-person board includes two partners from AWZ.

Their involvement in the Greek camps is part of a phenomenon of Israeli technology first being “battled-tested” on Palestinians, then “repurposed” for use on refugees in Europe, according to Ella Dodd, advocacy coordinator at legal aid organization I Have Rights.

“The two Israeli companies play a key role in the Centaur system, supplying military-grade surveillance technologies, which have likely been developed on Palestinians,” she said. “And they are now being repurposed for asylum seekers, many of whom are also Palestinian, as part of Europe’s border enforcement regime.” 

This is not the first time that companies linked with the former Prime Minister are involved in developing technology weaponized against Palestinians or others.

Last April, The Breach revealed how spy tech developed by another AWZ Ventures-funded startup was used to conduct mass surveillance of Palestinians in Gaza during Israel’s military campaign there.

Greek Authorities tried to keep tech companies secret

Some of these findings were contained in a new report published this week by I Have Rights, documenting the extent of surveillance of thousands of asylum seekers detained in a refugee centre on the island of Samos.

Amnesty International and Doctors Without Borders have described the conditions inside the camp as “prison-like.”

Evidence of the involvement of Viisights came to light after detainees on Samos, with the help of I Have Rights, requested access to CCTV footage of them inside the camp.

The footage obtained was marked with “ViiSIGHTS” and is similar to examples of camera feeds featured on ViiSight’s website.

The Breach examined the photos, which are not being published to protect the identity of the individuals who requested them.

Back in November 2022, Viisights announced that its technology was being deployed in refugee camps in Greece.

However, the full extent of its involvement has never been confirmed. Greek authorities have kept information about the suppliers of the technologies they use in the camps confidential for what they claim are national security reasons.

As for Octopus, photos taken from inside Centaur’s control room show applications bearing its logo.

The Breach contacted the former Prime Minister, AWZ Ventures, Octopus, Viisights, and Greece’s Ministry of Migration to provide comments for this story.

The Ministry stated that it “does not comment on issues concerning the National Security of the country, especially in this phase of intensifying migration.”

No other reply was received at time of publication.

According to Greek investigative non-profit Solomon, the system has been used at least once to suppress a demonstration put on by Syrian and Palestinian refugees at the camp after Israel invaded Gaza in October, 2023. 

The deployment of Centaur during the demonstration led to the arrest of five individuals.

In April 2024, Greece’s Data Protection Agency fined the Ministry of Migration $260,000 for violating the country’s data protection laws during the planning and implementation of the surveillance systems in its refugee camps, including Centaur.

‘I don’t think that Israel really knows the global potential of its technology’: Harper

Since 2015, Greece has been relying extensively on Israeli technology to respond to what it calls a migrant crisis.

In his book ‘The Palestine Laboratory’, Australian-German journalist Antony Loewestein points out how the Israeli-made drones used by the European Union in Greece for border control were battle-tested in Palestine first.

Octopus’ and Viisights’ list of clients include the Israeli Ministries of Defense and Public Security, and their technologies have also been used on Israeli citizens.

Octopus’s software was deployed in the Israeli town of Bnei Brak when the Haredi Jewish communities there were sealed off during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to their website, Octopus used drones, 500 cameras and observation balloons to enforce the lockdown.

Viisights also used the COVID-19 pandemic to market its products.

In February 2021, the Israeli startup announced it developed new tools to help authorities enforce restrictions on public activity during the pandemic, including the mandatory wearing of a mask in public.

Already in 2019, Harper has suggested that one of the goals of AWZ Ventures would be to market Israeli startups more effectively.

“I don’t think that Israel really knows the global potential of its technology sector, and this is one of our goals,” he said in an interview to Israeli business daily Globes.

“Through AWZ, we therefore want to build an important global Israeli technology fund that will in time lead to a wider range of commercial results for technology companies,” he said.