New laws will allow federal and state government to access
data and photos from passports, driver licences and visas as part of a national
facial recognition system; the ‘ National Facial Biometric Matching
capability’.
Unlike My Health Record, citizens won’t be able to opt out
of their details being included in the system.
The NSW Minister for Counter-Terrorism David Elliott
said it would enable authorities “to quickly identify a person of interest to
help keep the community safe," according to the Sydney
Morning Herald.
A Parliamentary Joint Committee inquiry into
allowing identity matching services for “identity or community protection
activities” has attracted submissions labelling the laws a breach of privacy
rights.
Monash University Criminal Jurisprudence Professor
Liz Campbell argued that the collection, storage and sharing of personal
details from innocent people not suspected of an offence would compromise
privacy rights.
Alongside this are the concerns that predictive
algorithms misidentify ethnic minorities and women at higher rates than the
rest of the population.
While Minister Elliott said there will be a threshold limiting the
use of the system, there are currently no
proper definitions of how the data will be used.
"People will not be charged for jaywalking just because
their facial biometric information has been matched by law enforcement
agencies," Mr Elliott said in state parliament. "The Government will
make sure that members of the public who have a driver licence are well and truly
advised that this information and capability will be introduced as part of this
legislation.
"I am an avid libertarian when it comes to freedom from
government interference and [concerns] have been forecasted and addressed in
this legislation."
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Written by: Claire Dowler
Claire is the manager of Akolade’s government and digital portfolio. She’s passionate about emerging digital trends, particularly in the public sector. In her spare time she enjoys picking up heavy things and putting them back down again and animals are her favourite kind of people.
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