By: Jennifer Pepin
Whether we fully recognize it or not, COVID-19 has changed the way we live in this world. As Australia continually tries to adapt to the challenges of regulating the spread of COVID-19, some states have introduced a home-quarantine app to track international arrivals. The Australian government is testing out facial recognition and geolocating quarantine restrictions to make sure residents are following quarantine orders. This has sparked international headlines as the controversial measures make the world nervous for what the outcome will be. Some call it “Orwellian,” as big brother is watching, while others say this will soon be used nationally across Australia.
The application called “Home Quarantine SA” was unveiled by the South Australian government at the end of August. The software uses geolocation and facial recognition to track those in quarantine. With the country’s borders being closed since March 2020, Australia wants to bring home the tens of thousands of citizens who live overseas and are waiting to return. Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, announced the home quarantine app trial is the “next step in our plan to safely reopen, and to stay safely open.” However, many concerns come from the government’s enforcement of facial recognition and location tracking.
Critiques of the app are calling the software a nightmare and questioning the lack of legal safeguards. Travelers arriving in Australia are required to go into government-mandated quarantines for seven days after arrival. All South Australians ordered to quarantine must download the app which ensures citizens comply with the quarantine orders. The app uses facial recognition and users share their location to allow police and health officials to continue to check-in. At random times app users are contacted by a phone call and given 15 minutes to reply. If a person is unable to verify their location, a South Australian Police Officer will check in on the person’s registered quarantine address. Failure to conform with the guidelines results in a fine of up to $1,000.
While the goal is to welcome long awaiting citizens back home, the means of doing so could have disastrous effects. In recognizing the severity of our global pandemic, it is hard to deny the measures needed to return to “normal” will be drastic. Especially with different variants, there is a growing public concern for health officials to respond with guidance. Whether the pandemic is justification for giving up rights to privacy is a debated topic around the world. Those who support the approach say it’s voluntary because you only must quarantine if you choose to come back to South Australia, so therefore rights are not being abandoned. This is not an easy choice nor is that choice available to everyone.
Major concerns have evolved around data storage and what the government will do with the facial recognition technology after the pandemic. With facial recognition being so new there are no legal provisions for how to deal with the privacy safeguards. Therefore, there is no guarantee that sensitive information and images are going to be safe and used appropriately. Another state in Australia, New South Wales, tried using the facial recognition system in a criminal investigation. The Australian Human Rights Commission advised that facial recognition technology should not be used for law enforcement until there are effective legal safeguards. This could unfold a pandora’s box of issues of whether federal agencies could use this facial recognition data. While facial recognition data might be helpful for criminal investigations, it still presents a problem because there are inadequate protections for individual privacy.
Australia plans to keep expanding the trial with 50 people expected to be included by mid-September. Feedback from participants in the trial has expressed how convenient and easy the app is. The government is promising the information will be destroyed when the COVID-19 pandemic ends. Consequentially, many would rather wear ankle monitors because then they would at least have the security of knowing they can take it off after quarantining rather than having to trust an indefinite promise. Facial recognition technology seems to be a convenient way to monitor quarantines, but the risk of harm is high when something goes wrong with the technology. Without specific laws stopping the abuse of facial recognition data, the rollout of Home Quarantine SA can be a slippery slope towards an Orwellian and totalitarian world.
Student Bio: Jennifer Pepin is currently a second-year law student at Suffolk University Law School and a staff member on the Journal of High Technology Law. Prior to law school, Jennifer received a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Business from the University of Southern Maine.
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this blog are the views of the author alone and do not represent the views of JHTL or Suffolk University Law School.
