New tech used by major retailers opens ‘huge can of worms’ for privacy of Australians

Three major retailers are using facial recognition technology to track customers without their knowledge.

Consumer group Choice has investigated 25 of the country’s biggest retailers and found Bunnings, Kmart and The Good Guys are analysing CCTV to develop “face prints” of shoppers to crack down on shoplifting.

While retailers using facial recognition display signs informing customers they’re doing so, those signs are discreet, with Choice finding more than 75 per cent of Australians didn’t know the technology was being used.

Program lead at Digital Rights Watch, Samantha Floreani, says it’s a “real level up from CCTV”.

“That gets stored in a database and can be used to compare and match against everyone else in the database, so it’s quite a step up,” she told Neil Mitchell.

“We’re talking information that’s integral to your being as an individual, and then the risk of data breaches, the potential for that to be sold or shared with other organisations. It’s opened such a huge can of worms for our privacy.

“It’s the equivalent of walking into Bunnings, wanting to buy a hammer and having to hand over your fingerprint.”

In a statement, Bunnings said “there are strict controls around the use of the technology which can only be accessed by specially trained team.  This technology is not used for marketing, consumer behaviour tracking, and images of children are never enrolled”.

Press PLAY below to hear why Digital Rights Watch is concerned