Bunnings has breached the privacy of customers by collecting their personal and sensitive information through a facial recognition technology (FRT) system, according to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC).
The system, via CCTV, captured the faces of every person who entered 63 Bunnings stores in Victoria and New South Wales between November 2018 and November 2021, with the intent of preventing unlawful activity by repeat offenders to keep team members and customers safe.
Privacy Commissioner, Carly Kind acknowledged the potential for FRT to help protect against serious issues, such as crime and violent behaviour. However, any possible benefits need to be weighed against the impact on privacy rights and collective values of society.
“FRT may have been an efficient and cost-effective option available to Bunnings at the time in its well-intentioned efforts to address unlawful activity, which included incidents of violence and aggression. However, just because a technology may be helpful or convenient, does not mean its use is justifiable,” she said.
“In this instance, deploying FRT was the most intrusive option, disproportionately interfering with the privacy of everyone who entered its stores, not just high-risk individuals.”
Bunnings collected individuals’ sensitive information without consent, failed to take reasonable steps to notify individuals that their personal information was being collected, and did not include required information in its privacy policy.
“Individuals who entered the relevant Bunnings stores at the time would not have been aware that FRT was in use and especially that their sensitive information was being collected, even if briefly,” Commissioner Kind said.
“The Privacy Act classes our facial image and other biometric information as sensitive information, which has a high level of privacy protection, including that consent is generally required for it to be collected.”
Bunnings seeks review of determination
Bunnings has confirmed that it will seek review of the Privacy Commissioner’s determination before the administrative review tribunal.
“We had hoped that based on our submissions, the Commissioner would accept our position that the use of FRT appropriately balanced our privacy obligations and the need to protect our team, customers, and suppliers against the ongoing and increasing exposure to violent and organised crime, perpetrated by a small number of known and repeat offenders,” Bunnings managing director, Mike Schneider said in a statement supplied to Appliance Retailer.
“It was not used in isolation but in combination with various other security measures and tools to deliver a safer store environment. We know that some 70% of incidents are caused by the same group of people. While we can physically ban them from our stores, with thousands of daily visitors, it is virtually impossible to enforce these bans. FRT provided the fastest and most accurate way of identifying these individuals and quickly removing them from our stores.”
Stores participating in the FRT trial experienced a reduction of incidents, compared to stores without FRT. There was also a significant reduction in theft in the stores where FRT was used.
“We believe that customer privacy was not at risk. The electronic data was never used for marketing purposes or to track customer behaviour. Unless matched against a specific database of people known to, or banned from stores for abusive, violent behaviour or criminal conduct, the electronic data of the vast majority of people was processed and deleted in 0.00417 seconds – less than the blink of an eye,” Schneider said.
“Across the retail sector, abuse, threats and assaults in stores continue to rise, with a 50% increase at Bunnings last year alone. However statistics don’t convey the real impact it has on the lives of our team and our customers.
“We believe that in the context of privacy laws, if we protect even one person from injury or trauma in our stores, the use of FRT has been justifiable. The significant challenges facing front-line workers are now widely understood, supported by our union leaders, and appreciated by state and territory governments around the country.
“Bunnings, along with other retailers and industry associations, has been consulting with state governments to amend legislation to provide better protection for our team and customers.”