Australian Information Commissioner Opens Investigation Into Retailers Using Facial Recognition

The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) has officially launched an investigation into Bunnings and Kmart Australia. In doing so, the agency is following up on a recommendation from the consumer privacy advocate CHOICE, which recently published a study that found that the retailers were using facial recognition cameras at their stores.

The OAIC’s investigation will focus on that facial recognition tech. CHOICE’s report suggested that Bunnings and Kmart Australia may have violated Australia’s Privacy Act with their CCTV cameras, with the two companies allegedly pulling images from those cameras to create face templates of people who walk into their stores. In many cases, those templates may have been generated without the knowledge or consent of the person in the video feed.

Bunnings and Kmart Australia are both owned by Wesfarmers. CHOICE also flagged The Good Guys in its report, and the OAIC has opened a preliminary investigation into that company. However, The Good Guys proactively suspended its use of facial recognition in response to the CHOICE report, which could explain why OAIC is taking a slightly more measured approach with that particular company. The retailer stated that it would await clarification from OAIC to make sure that its system is compliant with the law before reinstating any facial recognition program.

“The Privacy Act generally requires retailers to only collect sensitive biometric information if it’s reasonably necessary for their functions or activities, and where they have clear consent,” said Privacy commissioner Angelene Falk. “While deterring theft and creating a safe environment are important goals, using high privacy impact technologies in stores carries significant privacy risks. Retailers need to be able to demonstrate that it is a proportionate response to collect the facial templates of all of their customers coming into their stores for this purpose.”

Simon McDowell, the COO of Bunnings, has stated that his company used facial recognition to make its stores safer for staff who are dealing with an increasing volume of unruly customers. The OAIC previously ordered Australia’s 7-Eleven chains to destroy facial templates that were captured during in-store surveys.

Source: iTnews

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July 13, 2022 – by Eric Weiss