Technology

Face Recognition for PORN Users? REALLY?

, and Juana Atkins

November 3, 2019 . 1:00 PM

2 min read

Facepalm. Ashamed embarrassed man covering his face. Young guy on red wall background with copy space. Emotion facial expression and feelings concept

Sometimes the comedy writes itself. In another case of where truth is stranger than fiction, some giant Womble has decided that it would be a great idea to use face recognition software on PORN users to make sure that they are 18 years of age or older.

I am sure I am not the only person to see what is wrong with this brain fart.

The Department of Home Affairs has suggested using face scans to confirm people’s age before they watch online pornography […]

The department has suggested checking ages by matching a person’s photo with a document already logged with Home Affairs, such as a driver’s licence.

“This could assist in age verification, for example by preventing a minor from using their parent’s driver licence to circumvent age verification controls,” it wrote to a parliamentary inquiry into age verification for online wagering and online pornography.

The United Kingdom this month abandoned plans to introduce a nationwide age verification system for online pornography, after years of technical troubles and concerns from privacy campaigners.

If they had trouble before on the basis of privacy concerns, doubling down by suggesting that they create a national database of the faces of people who view pornography is madness. Apart from the obvious breach of privacy for an activity that by its very nature is intensely private, the potential for blackmail should the information fall into the wrong hands is HUGE!

Closer to home, the Home Affairs proposal would piggyback off a separate proposed facial recognition scheme being pursued by the federal government.

Anyone who thinks that this proposal is only about regulating the age of people who view pornography is deluded. By scanning the faces of users of porn the government can legitimately store in a national database the faces of a large chunk of the male population.

The government had floated a contentious plan to permit government agencies, telecom companies and banks to use facial recognition technology connected to a ‘hub’.

Yep, give them an inch and they take a mile. Do we really want any Western democracy to go down the same route as China? China is currently using face recognition technology to completely control their population by using a social credit system where they earn rewards or punishments depending on their score. Citizens can be turned into non-persons by the government who can punish them by taking away their rights one by one. It is a real-life version of ‘Big Brother is watching you’ and it is terrifying.

Under the laws, driver’s licence, passport and visa images would be stored by the Home Affairs Department in an “interoperability hub”.

However, a bipartisan committee last week told the Morrison government to redraft the proposed laws allowing for the technology’s use in Australia, with Liberal and Labor MPs demanding additional safeguards be added.

[…]In the association’s submission, general manager Rachel Payne says the UK model posed serious privacy concerns and risked creating a potential “honey pot” for hackers.