Kmart Australia breached the privacy of potentially “hundreds of thousands” of individuals when it used a facial recognition technology system to detect refund fraud over a two-year period.

The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) has ruled [pdf] that Kmart “indiscriminately” collected personal and “sensitive biometric information” of everyone entering one of the 28 stores where the technology was used between June 2020 and July 2022.

The Wesfarmers-owned retailer has now been ordered to apologise and to display the apology “in a prominent position” on its website.

A Wesfarmers spokesperson said Kmart "is disappointed" with the ruling and is "reviewing its options to appeal."

Limited trial

Kmart began what it described as a “pilot program” using a third-party sys

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