By: Bryan Zou
Facial Recognition software has recently sparked an outcry throughout Australia. It’s being used for many situations including quarantining and criminal tracking.
Australia’s most populous states, NWS (New South Wales) and Victoria, are both using facial recognition software for COVID-19. Victoria alone contains more than half of Australia’s population, but many are still unaware. The technology is currently in its trial period being developed by Genvis Pty Ltd tech firm. While uncertain, the Genvis website claims that the trial is purely voluntary.
A Western-Australian startup initially developed the software in 2020 with state police to contain the spread of COVID-19 as well. Along with Western Australia, South Australia has also tried a non-Genvis face-recognition tech.
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said in an email that the current state of pandemic is, “close to piloting some home quarantine options for returning Australians,” and avoided responding to questions about facial recognition software. Victorian Police evaded questions in a similar way, directing the questions to the Victorian Health Department, which refused to respond.
The lack of explanation behind the software coupled with many people not understanding where it could be used has led to concerns about privacy and anonymity. Genvis’s website and private investigations have been the only sources of information. Without the public knowing, many databases have been made, whether it being nationwide or from private companies.
The current system requires quarantined people to take selfies at their quarantine addresses and send them to the police, who use the software to check for their whereabouts. Location data from cameras in various areas is used as a database to check for that person’s face. If found, the person is visited by the police at their door, where they are questioned about their whereabouts.
The issue with the software is that it doesn’t have a 100% success rate. In the end, false fires and mishaps could happen that could cause accidents with the people. Facial recognition has been used for many other purposes as well, but no other democratic country uses it for COVID-19 like Australia.
Police and some grocery stores across Australia have been using it for criminal detection as well. Upon entering a store, a customer could be greeted with a small sign hidden intentionally from view that warns the customer of facial recognition. This sign is made to be hard to notice, so a customer or thief wouldn’t worry about being monitored. The software then recognizes theft or disruptions and adds them to a database, and each customer who enters would have a check performed on them to make sure they aren’t a criminal.
Many people are worried about the software because of this. The software is hard to recognize when in use and legislation or regulation hasn’t been made for it yet. “I’m troubled not just by the use here but by the fact this is an example of the creeping use of this sort of technology in our lives,“ said Toby Wlash, a professor of AI at the University of NSW.
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