Most people know mobile phones reveal our movements and credit card companies collect our purchase habits but individuals are generally not bothered because they have “nothing to hide”.
- Debate tonight: Is privacy still relevant in the modern age?
- Debaters: Queensland Privacy Commissioner Philip Green
- Australian Information Deputy Commissioner Angelene Falk
- Dr Monique Mann
But what most people don’t know is the extent to which facial recognition technology is being used to collect, store and share personal information for commercial and law enforcement uses, without our consent or knowledge, says Dr Monique Mann from QUT’s Crime and Justice Research Centre.
“The expansion of collection of personal information by law enforcement and security agencies is not matched by adequate oversight or accountability measures to safeguard people’s privacy,” Dr Mann said.
“Most people are unaware of the National Facial Biometric Matching Capability (NFBMC) which became operational in 2016 and enables agencies to share facial templates for the purpose of face recognition.
“The biometric information of every Australian citizen with a passport has already been included so it contains the facial templates of approximately 12 million Australians.
"There are attempts to also increase coverage by including the drivers licence databases in Australia’s states and territories. Indeed, the Queensland government passed legislation to enable this last week.”
Dr Mann said use of big data is growing and the aggregation and mining of huge datasets enables individuals to be identified quite easily.
“Also face recognition technology can identify and track individuals in physical space while also providing a gateway to the large searchable, ever-expanding datasets held by government, law enforcement and security agencies,” she said.
“Most of us are simply unaware of how our information is being integrated and used - either with our knowledge such as for passports or driver licences, or unwittingly as in social media sites – and how it is shared and used for secondary reasons beyond the initial purpose supporting its collection.
“Australians have limited protections for the use of our personal information and those we do have under the Privacy Act have significant exemptions.”
Dr Mann will speak at a debate Is privacy still relevant in the modern age? with Queensland Privacy Commissioner Philip Green, and the Office of the Australian Information Deputy Commissioner Angelene Falk on March 13 at QUT Gardens Point.
A full discussion of all forms of biometrics and its uses are detailed in a new book Biometrics, Crime and Security , Dr Mann wrote with co-authors Dr Marcus Smith from Charles Sturt University and Associate Professor Gregor Urbas from the University of Canberra. Dr Mann has also previously published open access research on the topics of face recognition and DNA.
Image: iStock
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