Australia to allow Facebook photos to be used in national surveillance database – report
Senior officials from the attorney general’s office confirmed late on Tuesday that photos from social media could be used in the system, which is known as “the capability,” the Guardian reports.
#Snowden says Australia watching its citizens ‘all the time,’ slams new metadata laws http://on.rt.com/s4ick1
The Australian Justice Minister, Michael Keenan, announced last month that the government would be spending US$13.3 million to develop a database (The National Facial Biometric Matching Capability), which would store still images that law enforcement officers could use to track terrorists.
It had been believed that the images would come from official documents such as drivers’ licenses, passport photographs or images taken from security cameras. The government claims that the technology is necessary as a human face is unique, just like a person’s fingerprints.
the #capability is being rolled out with no input from the public – we might want to change that #estimates
“It keeps Australians safe by protecting their identity and it allows our law enforcement authorities to accurately and efficiently identify someone who might take their interest,” Keenan said in September, as cited by ABC.
However, it is now apparent that the database will be able to lift photographs from social networks, such as Facebook and Instagram.
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