Backed by Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull, the Australian government has announced it will push for federal agencies to build a national facial recognition database.
At a counter-terrorism summit on Thursday, Prime Minister Turnbull will encourage state premiers to assist in the endeavour by providing images of every state licensed driver.
The database should enable national surveillance cameras which incorporate facial recognition, to scan crowds and identify suspected terrorists/criminals.
Government sources have heralded the images the “mother load” required to equip national law enforcement with a powerful tool.
Images will be an addition to existing passport and visa application images currently accessible by Australian Federal agencies.
Reports state Facebook photos could be added to the database in the future.
In light of the recent mass shootings in Las Vegas, the development of Australia’s ‘National Facial Biometric Matching Capability’ is set to be a well-discussed during Thursday’s counter-terrorism summit.
Australian authorities have reportedly been pursuing the capability for some time, though met resistance over privacy considerations, and advocates promoting the overseas algorithm mistakes associated with the technology.
In the United States, more than half of the population have their images stored within the FBI’s facial recognition database. Russia has recently fitted thousands of facial recognition enabled security cameras, for a similar purpose.
