CHOICE has asked the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner to investigate Kmart, Bunnings and The Good Guys for potential breaches of the Privacy Act (1988). CHOICE is concerned that the retailers’ practices related to their use of facial recognition technology pose significant risks to individuals. The social and economic risks include invasion of privacy, misidentification, discrimination, profiling and exclusion, as well as vulnerability to cybercrime through data breaches and identity theft.
Key issues
CHOICE has concerns with the retailers’ practices for two main reasons:
- Lack of notice and consent in the collection of sensitive information. The
retailers’ use of online privacy policies and small signage in store as the
key mechanisms to provide notice and obtain consent from individuals about
the collection of their sensitive information is insufficient and
non-compliant.
- The stated business purpose is disproportionate to the privacy harms
posed to individuals. The retailers’ large scale collection and use of
their customers’ sensitive information significantly invades the privacy of
its customers. It is a disproportionate response to the risk of theft and
anti-social behaviour in stores.
