Telecommunications, Media And Technology (TMT) Law Update – Volume 45

JUDGMENTS

AFP's use of facial recognition service provider found to be a privacy breach

On 26 November 2021, the Privacy Commissioner determined that the Australian Federal Police (AFP) interfered with the privacy of individuals whose personal information was disclosed to a third party facial recognition service provider: Commissioner Initiated Investigation into the Australian Federal Police (Privacy) [2021] AICmr 74. As we have previously reported, in an earlier decision the Commissioner found that Clearview AI had infringed a range of Australian Privacy Principles (APPs) by scraping individuals' biometric information from the internet and disclosing it through a facial recognition tool. Relatedly, Clearview AI provided free trials of the facial recognition tool to several members of the Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation (ACCCE), an organisation led by the AFP, after ACCCE members became aware that other law enforcement agencies had used the