It’s looking increasingly likely that Australian’s drivers’ licenses are going to be linked to a new facial recognition database, according to various news sources this week.
The Courier-Mail reports that millions of driver’s licences will soon be uploaded into the Department of Home Affairs new biometric database, with many suggesting that it’s only a matter of time before the UK follows suit.
The idea is partly driven by a desire to help fight crime and partly to help authorities respond to contagious disease outbreaks.
It’s an interesting idea, for sure, with privacy campaigners immediately decrying it as yet further evidence of a surveillance state gone mad! Yet it certainly raises some questions about how facial recognition tech might be applied in the future.
Police being trained to use the facial database
Australian police are being trained to use the Driver Licence Facial Recognition Solution, the publication reported.
The Australian driver’s licences, firearms, fishing and proof-of-age cards are all looking like they will be uploaded into the national biometric database within 18 months.
Is this a legitimate state move in the fight against terrorism identity theft and serious crime? Or is it a mass invasion of privacy?
One Daily Mail commentator certainly thinks it’s verging on the latter, posting this week: “Big Brother marches on, increasingly stomping on our right to privacy and autonomy. He does it in so many blatantly intrusive ways, as well as using many clandestine avenues. Computers were a great technology until governments schooled themselves on how they can be used for subversion and subjugation.”
No doubt this latest move will see some healthy debate on the matter over the coming months and years…
Via Yahoo News and The Daily Mail
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