Australian Gov’t In Talks With Telecoms to Sell Access to Biometric Citizen Database

The Australian government has entered into discussions with private sector telecommunications companies about allowing them to buy access to its database for facial recognition, according to documents obtained with a Freedom of Information request.

The database was expanded last month after negotiations between the federal government and provincial leaders, with the Prime Minister and his administration arguing that it was vital for public security. The government’s aim is to enable police surveillance based on automated facial recognition technologies by incorporating all citizens’ driver license photos into the national database.

Now, as The Guardian reports, the Attorney General’s Department “is currently in exploratory discussions with some of the major telecommunications carriers”, according to the disclosed documents, about allowing access to the Face Verification Service (FVS) starting in 2018. The service would allow telecoms to upload an image of a customer to the ‘Biometric Interoperability Hub’, which would then return a yes-or-no answer as to whether the submitted photo matches the driver license or passport image on file. A fee would be paid per transaction.

The documents also note that “large financial institutions have shown a strong interest in accessing the FVS,” as well.

As The Guardian notes, there are already serious concerns about this development from privacy rights advocates, but an Attorney General Department spokesperson has asserted that “[t]he arrangements for private sector access will be informed by an independent privacy impact assessment.” The spokesperson also asserted that no trials have yet been started, but did not offer details regarding if or when such trials might begin.

Source: The Guardian

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November 27, 2017 – by Alex Perala