Retail surveillance company Auror is under investigation by Australia’s privacy watchdog following a Crikey report into the Australian Federal Police’s (AFP) use of its software.
The Australian Information Commissioner launched an investigation into the New Zealand-based company on February 2 this year, as first reported by regulatory and privacy publication MLex.
Auror sells itself as helping “connect people and organisations with timely intel to proactively reduce the impacts of crime in retail stores” by pulling together facial recognition scans, license plate scanners, self-checkout AI and other data from retailers that they can share with other retailers and police.
Last year, Crikey revealed internal emails from the AFP showing that more than 100 members of its staff had used the software without any agency guardrails around its use.
These emails showed that staff were using it to collect information from retailers not reported to police, and put police information into Auror’s systems.
After Crikey approached police about its use, the AFP suspended its use of the technology. The Office of the Information Commissioner launched “preliminary inquiries” into the AFP’s use of the technology soon afterwards, before graduating to a full investigation earlier this year.
Police use of the self-described “crime intelligence platform” adopted by as many as 40% of Australian retailers has elicited concerns from privacy experts over the sharing of information between retailers and with law enforcement without necessarily being tied to a crime.
This disclosure came in response to a question during budget estimates asked by Greens Senator David Shoebridge on May 29.
“The reason I’m asking is that many of the privacy investigations undertaken by your office — and I know you’ve only recently come in — have taken years to come to a conclusion,” Shoebridge said to privacy commissioner Carly Kind at the time.
“That is of incredible frustration to the public, to myself and I assume to other elected representatives — the length of time these investigations are taking.”
An Auror spokesperson confirmed the investigation in an emailed statement.
“We are pleased to be supporting OAIC inquiries into better understanding our work,” they told Crikey.
