Garth Thomas

This week, Privacy Commissioner Carly Kind determined that Kmart's use of facial recognition tech breached Australia's privacy law. This was an important moment. Kmart argued that it needed to act robustly to address the problems of theft and refund fraud in its stores. The Privacy Commissioner accepted this, but she also made clear that how companies like Kmart combat these problems truly matters. The core issues in this case are straightforward. First, Kmart's facial recognition system created something like a virtual 'police line up'. Tens of thousands of ordinary Australians, walking through the stores that used this tech, were effectively treated as suspects, even when they'd done nothing wrong. Second, facial recognition didn't 'add up' as a way of addressing Kmart's problem. There were basic things Kmart could do - like requiring customers who wanted refunds to bring a receipt for the products they claimed to have bought - and these wouldn't impact nearly as much on Australians' basic right to privacy. In other words, before adopting a radical measure like facial recognition to address things like shop lifting, companies like Kmart should first do the more obvious measures that wouldn't have a disproportionate impact on people's right to privacy. This case is a reminder that the Australian Government committed some years ago to update our Privacy Act to make crystal clear when facial recognition can and can't be used. This is more urgent than ever. I was pleased to speak with Tom Stayner of SBS for this story (along with Lizzie O'Shea FAAL from Digital Rights Watch). https://lnkd.in/gT4vPpyW

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Deloitte has been caught blatantly using AI to generate reports for commissioned consulting projects and will now repay the Albanese government after using AI in a $440,000 report, a fact uncovered by a professor on the government committee.It’s not about one firm or one government. Governments across the world should be cautious about blindly trusting consultants who are often not subject-matter experts, but rather glorified salespeople.

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🛩️ While everyone was criticising the NZ Government’s national AI strategy, MBIE’s Responsible AI Guidance for Businesses flew under the radar. Despite several shortcomings, the guidance provides a useful introduction to Responsible AI for Kiwi businesses. 👷 But a key challenge is moving from high-level principles and “tips” to practical, proportionate actions that reflect our local environment. Because while the risks of AI are clear (well, not in the guidance unfortunately…), ultimately it’s how you address them that matters. As discussed in our recent Simply Privacy newsletter article (link in comments), we recommend taking action now to embed responsible AI practices. That includes: ✳️ Understanding your AI activities, including shadow AI ✳️ Confirming your AI strategy and risk appetite ✳️ Clarifying accountabilities and responsibilities ✳️ Having clear policies and guardrails around acceptable use of AI ✳️ Training your teams Real progress in driving trust in AI will come not from waiting on government or global standards, but from businesses putting proportionate, workable practices into place. #responsibleai #aigovernance #privacy #trust Simply Privacy Emma Pond Daimhin Warner

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As good as it gets ... I recently posted that if NVIDIA - the largest company in the world and one with a fair degree of hype in the price - can guide the market to its earnings without much fanfare, then there was no reason Australian corporates couldn’t do the same. Last night we saw another example of best practise by the most important central bank in the world - the US Federal Reserve. Despite high expectations, record equity markets, elevated political pressure and arguably some two-way data, the Fed cut rates and at the same time delivered a message to the market that did not materially disappoint or cause anxiety. At the same time, it left itself enough wiggle room to alter course if needed. Compare that to a recent policy rate decision closer to home where every economist (and market expectations) were wrong footed by (lets say) 100%. As for the implications. The risk skew heading into the SEP was for disappointment rather than upside surprise, so a neutral (on the day) outcome for markets was a very solid result. The Fed stated that policy was restrictive and now inappropriate, that inflation was less of a concern, that the labour market was more of a concern but that it remains data dependent. It gave the market a path to 4 cuts instead of 6, but the Fed was always going to keep something in reserve if required (or not). The bull market remains intact and the Fed did nothing to disrupt it. The oxygen remains turned on for small/mid-caps, cyclicals and value while it has not been turned off for high multiple growth just yet. #TenCap, #JasonTodd, #Fed, #BullMarket

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