'Not about mass surveillance': WA Police first in country to use live facial recognition
www.abc.net.au
WA Police are set to become the first in the country to trial live facial recognition of crowds, describing the technology as safer than standard CCTV cameras.

A marked police van will be used outside major events or in crowded areas to live scan the faces of people walking past, in an Australian first.

The faces of people will be matched against a database of people with outstanding arrest warrants and registered child sex offenders, as well as missing persons.

“This is not about mass surveillance,” [the police commissioner] said, “This is about specifying those in our community who are wanted by police.”

While the trial only includes one marked van, the police commissioner is not ruling out further covert technology being used in the future, including at protests.

  • zeezee@slrpnk.net
    6·
    3 days ago

    Commission Blanch said it was not his “intent” for the technology to be used at protests “except if we have intelligence that there is a significant risk of someone seeking to do harm”.

    But he said that could be the case at the upcoming Land Forces defence expo, which Perth will host in October, if police had intelligence of a threat to that event

    inb4 harm means Palantir top brass not being able to attend because there’s protestors blockading the event

    Asked about the cameras, opposition leader Basil Zempilas said he supported police having more tools to do their job.

    “I’ve always had the view if you haven’t done anything wrong, you haven’t got anything to worry about, and I’m not sure it’s any different when it applies to this,” he said.

    another dont thread on me shitlib licking the mass-surveillance boot at every opportunity