Privacy Commissioner Michael Webster told The Front Page that it is essentially each individual’s physical and behavioural characteristics.
“There are a number of workplaces, for example, where there are sensitive areas, and some are now using fingerprint scanning for people to be able to enter those places.
“And of course, in New Zealand, we’ll be familiar with the recent trial that Foodstuffs North Island did of the use of FRT (facial recognition technology) to address some serious retail crime issues that they were having,” he said.
The Privacy Commission had been monitoring what’s happening internationally and what these kind of technological advancements means for people’s privacy.
“So we already have our own New Zealand Privacy Act, and all personal information was already governed under that. Now, what this [code] does, though, is to clarify and strengthen some of the requirements for organisations thinking about using this technology.
“They need to go through a deliberate process of considering whether they have privacy safeguards in place.
“For example, with facial recognition technology, the Foodstuffs North Island trial had a system of immediate deletion of ‘non-matches’, so they didn’t build up this giant database of Kiwi faces. That would be a privacy safeguard.
“We also expect, under the code, greater transparency. So, if you go into a business that’s using biometric technology, we would expect there to be very visible signage saying that it’s in use,” he said.
Listen to the full episode to hear more about:
- What biometric information is
- How can that data be used
- Individual rights and enforcement
- International comparisons.
The Front Page is a daily news podcast from the New Zealand Herald, available to listen to every weekday from 5am. The podcast is presented by Chelsea Daniels, an Auckland-based journalist with a background in world news and crime/justice reporting who joined NZME in 2016.
You can follow the podcast at iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
