Government surveillance and facial recognition in Australia: a human rights analysis of recent developments

Abstract

Surveillance technologies–particularly digital surveillance technologies–have proliferated and become increasingly powerful in recent years. This article discusses recent and emerging legal and policy developments in Australia with respect to facial recognition and related technologies in particular. It analyses these developments from the perspective of international human rights law, focussing on privacy and related rights. The article contends that greater attention needs to be paid in Australia to the risks to human rights posed by these technologies, both in the development of policy and legislation, and on the part of a citizenry which stands to have its freedom significantly restricted in the coming years.