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Bunnings found to breach law through facial recognition technology

Australia’s privacy commissioner has ruled Bunnings breached the privacy of potentially hundreds of thousands of customers using facial recognition technology.

The technology scans customers entering the store for the purpose of addressing theft or store safety.

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The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) has ruled Bunnings breached privacy laws in 63 stories in New South Wales and Victoria over three years.

From there, the imagery is uploaded to a database of banned customers.

The privacy commissioner, Carly Kind, found Bunnings collected sensitive information without consent.

Kind said although the technology may have been an efficient and cost-effective option to address violence and unlawful activity, it was the “most intrusive option”.

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“However, just because a technology may be helpful or convenient does not mean its use is justifiable. In this instance, deploying facial recognition technology was the most intrusive option, disproportionately interfering with the privacy of everyone who entered its stores, not just high-risk individuals,” Kind said.

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