Citizen surveillance is becoming increasingly normalised, even while similar technology is being deployed by ICE agents in the US and the IDF in Gaza
S
ay cheese! A decision last week greenlighting Bunnings’ use of facial recognition technology to routinely monitor customers provides a not-so-happy snap of how ill-prepared Australia is for the coming AI storm.
On its face, the administrative review tribunal decision to overrule the privacy commissioner’s finding that Bunnings’ use of intrusive, high-impact AI was unlawful is a technical call. But the impact will be material.
Expect retailers and others operating in public spaces to scale up the capture of our biometric information, matching it against massive and often inaccurate external databases to make real-time decisions about whether we can access what used to be the commons.
