Australia needs to face up to the dangers of facial recognition technology

In the 20 years of the "war on terror" Australia has led from the front in expanding powers for law enforcement and ramping up surveillance at the expense of public rights and freedoms. Among the seemingly endless barrage of national security legislation and surveillance that creeps into every aspect of our personal lives, more and more of our public spaces have been smothered by surveillance cameras and facial recognition technology. Corporations large and small, towns and cities, federal and state government departments and agencies have deployed these systems, snooping on us all wherever we go without any of us getting a say. State and federal law enforcement officers are accessing these technologies without any oversight. As anti-police protests spread around the world, tools and processes that exacerbate racist bias – and the wasteful spending and abuses of power that comes with it –within law enforcement and judicial systems have fallen under renewed scrutiny. Once again, Australia is lagging behind the debate.