Photo: AOU
Aussies surveilled without consent.
BUNNINGS BREACHED LAWS
Hundreds of thousands of Australians had their facial data was recorded by Bunnings without their consent, and now, the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) has ruled the retail giant breached privacy laws when they did so.
The organisation used CCTV-linked facial recognition technology (FRT) to capture the face of every person who entered 63 stores in NSW and Victoria.
The surveillance was undertaken over a three-year period, to November 2021.
First unveiled in 2022, Australia’s leading consumer advocacy group CHOICE raised concerns about major retailers using facial recognition technology to record customer faceprints.
CHOICE referred Kmart, Bunnings and The Good Guys to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner to investigate potential breaches of the Privacy Act.
In a statement released following the decision, Australia’s Privacy Commissioner, Carly Kind, says Bunnings failed to take reasonable steps to notify individuals that their personal information was being collected and did not include required information in its policy.
“Individuals who entered the relevant Bunnings stores at the time would not have been aware that facial recognition technology was in use and especially that their sensitive information was being collected, even if briefly,” she said.
Bunnings has been ordered not to repeat or continue the practice and must destroy all personal and sensitive information it collected through FRT within a year.
Bunnings Managing Director, Mike Schneider, said the company launched the technology to “tackle shoplifting and violence in its stores” and would appeal the ruling.
Photo: AJY
A great result with this ruling, but I can’t help to stop but think how Bunnings only stopped recording because they were exposed, and probably would have continued if CHOICE didn’t step in.
And the truth is, authorities do not know how many companies are doing the same.
From pubs and clubs, to football stadiums and more, the biometric creep has arrived – and these are just the groups that have publicly been revealed.
A Biometric Behemoth is on the loose in Australia.
THE BIOMETRIC CREEP
Facial recognition technology, and the surveillance it enables, has emerged as one of the most ethically challenging new technologies in recent years. And it has been expanding rapidly.
The Bunnings story is just one piece of a larger, more concerning puzzle.
To give some examples of how much this technology has spread, pubs and clubs across Australia have been slowly switching it on, including many of my local pubs in my small south-east Queensland region.
In June last year, Australian regulators found that a photo-scraper used by federal police was also harvesting sensitive personal information without consent.
In 2019, we followed news that international airports were beginning to install facial recognition ‘smart gates’, which most Australians have now accepted as ‘normal’ in a matter of years.
Public transport systems across the country have also been fitted with the controversial spying gear, including on the Gold Coast and Sydney, which we have covered across the years.
QLD Rail brags about their surveillance capabilities in very disturbing, Orwellian ads:
Of course, banking is also making the shift towards biometrics, all underpinned by iPhones and other smart devices now incorporating face-spanning as a ‘security feature’.
Our banks are already set to introduce identity checking services as a means for use soon.
Even some schools have used this type of technology as a means to check attendance levels of students, including in Adelaide as early as 2017.
In other words, it is everywhere. It has spread, and Bunnings is merely the tip of the iceberg.
And it is always the familiar tone of deception: ‘This is for your security’.
The OAIC said the ruling should be a reminder to businesses about their privacy obligations and has released a privacy guide for companies considering using facial recognition tech.
In other words, so many businesses already use this technology that there is merely a standardised guide that businesses download like any other form of regulatory overview.
Thankfully, however, there are still people out there that do believe in the principles of privacy and are attempting to combat this type of dystopian technology with new techniques in the name of liberty.
There are also many things you can do online to protect your privacy from biometric data-harvesting.
But if you are unaware you are being filmed, how can one be informed to opt-out?
This is the problem with businesses like Bunnings, and they should be held accountable.
And, with the Digital ID scheme just around the corner — which will be underpinned by biometric authentication — it seems this type of technology is here to stay.
Will you continue to shop at Bunnings? Do you think they will continue?
Be sure to leave your thoughts in the comments below!
KEEP UP-TO-DATE
For more TOTT News:
Facebook — Facebook.com/TOTTNews
YouTube — YouTube.com/TOTTNews
Instagram — Instagram.com/TOTTNews
Twitter — Twitter.com/EthanTOTT
Bitchute — Bitchute.com/TOTTNews
Gab — Gab.com/TOTTNews
If we have a Privacy Act and it’s constantly being violated, why aren’t these people held to account, trialed and imprisoned?? If we did it, we would be. Enough!
Entirely expected from a subsidiary of the corporatocracy. I just watched the woeful double act of Butler & Chalmers presenting the weighty tome of the “Covid Inquiry”, a shameless whitewash. The government’s response/”solution”: more government, in the form of our very own CDC (after all, what a marvellous model the US version provides…a paid up appendage of Harma). “Its first priority: a comprehensive surveillance system”. Oh no, here comes the Orwellian spectre again.
PALANTIR TECHNOLOGIES (U.S. Corporate Military contractor) – ‘Employed’ by Coles, & we Assume Wesfarmers Oversight (Bunnings, another Subsidiary), For Bio Metric ‘Tracking/Efficiencies’ of Staff > & Customers obviously, as a Tradeable Asset. PALANTIR are involved in Euro -Ukraine, & have taken over Project MARVEN’!
Nothing like a little ‘Civil’ ActiviTie for SkyNett S.M.A.R.T ONE-NESS.
Wellness