Porn viewers could have face scanned to match driver's licence
Australia's powerful domestic security agency has suggested using face scans to confirm people's age before they watch online pornography.
The Department of Home Affairs has also suggested using the technology to restrict access to gambling sites.
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 license.
The technology could be used for all adult sites, including gambling portals. PA/AAP
"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 committee investigating the idea.
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.
Closer to home, the Home Affairs proposal would piggyback off a separate proposed facial recognition scheme being pursued by the federal government.
Brigette Rivera Goersch, director of security at the Orlando International Airport, OIA, demonstrates the iris scan in the departure area at the airport in Orlando, Fla. Tuesday, June 21, 2005. AP/AAP
The government wants agencies, banks and phone companies to be able to use the technology.
However, a bipartisan committee recently shot down the proposal over fears it could lead to mass surveillance, telling the government to redraft its plans.
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