Kmart anti-theft facial recognition technology: Retail giant ruled to have breached privacy by scanning shoppers’ faces without consent

Retail giant Kmart breached Australians’ privacy by scanning shoppers’ faces without consent, Australia’s privacy commissioner has ruled. Between June 2020 and July 2022, Kmart installed facial-recognition cameras in 28 stores to combat refund fraud.

Every customer who entered – not just suspected fraudsters – had their biometric data captured. Privacy commissioner Carly Kind said that after a three-year investigation, she found the practice was “a disproportionate interference with privacy”.

Retail giant Kmart breached Australians’ privacy by scanning shoppers’ faces without consent, Australia’s privacy commissioner has ruled.

“I do not consider that the respondent [Kmart] could have reasonably believed that the benefits of the facial-recognition technology system in addressing refund