Woolworths Group Considers Facial Recognition Technology Trial in Two Canberra Stores
Woolworths Group is weighing a trial of facial recognition technology across two of its stores in Canberra, Australia. No decision has been announced yet, and details about the scope or purpose of the trial remain limited.
Why this matters: Every time you walk into a supermarket, you expect to buy groceries, not submit a biometric scan. Facial recognition in retail stores is not a neutral security upgrade. It builds a database of your face, your visit patterns, and potentially your behavior, held by a private company with its own interests. Australia has seen these trials before, and the pattern is consistent: they start small, expand quietly, and the people being scanned rarely know it is happening. If Woolworths moves forward, the real test is not whether the technology works. It is whether customers get a genuine choice.
Who should care: Privacy officers · Cybersecurity · General readers · Policy
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