Hidden detail in police facial recognition trial after 900,000 Aussies unknowingly caught up
Australian police conducted a facial recognition trial that swept up roughly 900,000 people without their knowledge, and a previously undisclosed detail about the program has since come to light.
Why this matters: Nine hundred thousand people were run through facial recognition and had no idea it was happening. That is not a side effect. That is the design. Covert biometric collection at that scale means people could not object, opt out, or even ask what happened to their data. The hidden detail matters because it suggests authorities knew something about this program they chose not to share. People whose faces were scanned deserve a straight answer about what was collected, who saw it, and whether any of it is still being used.
Who should care: Privacy officers · Cybersecurity · General readers · Policy
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