Pub Patrons Down Under Subject To Biometric Datamining 138
mask.of.sanity writes with an excerpt from ZDNet Australia: "Pubs and clubs in Australia are signing up in droves to national and state biometrics databases that capture patron fingerprints, photos, and scanned driver licenses in efforts to curb violence. The databases of captured patron information mean that individuals banned at one location could be refused entry across a string of venues. Particularly violent individuals could be banned for years. The databases are virtually free from government regulation as biometrics are not covered by privacy laws, meaning that the handling of details are left to the discretion of technology vendors."
I pity the guy... (Score:3, Insightful)
.. who dumps a bar manager and finds himself barred from every pub in the land with no right of appeal.
Re:Thanks Australia (Score:3, Insightful)
Note to self: never go to Australia or any other Nanny State.
How is that a nanny state? It says that the databases AREN'T regulated by the state.
What are jails for? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Thanks Australia (Score:3, Insightful)
Australia's net censorship system is not going to happen. It was proposed, it was debated and in the end it went flat and Australia STILL has no filtering and less site takedowns than the US.
This pub thing is run by certain pubs themselves in order to keep violent patrons out of, it will probably be reviewed by the government if there are undue privacy issues, but this is not a government program, it is on private property, it is not wide spread and it is not mandatory that you drink in the places with this system.
What's your major issue with Australia anyway? The R rated games ban thing? If that's the biggest civil liberties issue in a country, it makes it pretty good by world standards.
Re:This could be a good thing if done properly (Score:4, Insightful)
Exactly. Where I'm (temporarily) living in Germany they take a zero-tolerance attitude to fights in nightclubs and bars. A friend of mine was involved in a one-punch fight - the other guy was unharmed and there was no blood. However the bouncers still called the cops, who arrived and took everyone's details etc. In a minor case like that it ended up with just a letter being sent out a few months later saying 'no further action'.
But it's why you can go out at night in Germany very safely - the cops investigate and take seriously every little assault. We need to do that in Australia, and to avoid clogging the courts with minor assaults introduce an exclusion-from-licensed-premises scheme, where the excluded person still has the right to challenge it in court if they wish.
I've even heard of people in Sydney being given suspended sentences over glassings. That needs to stop too, if you glass somebody and cause permanent scarring or even loss of an eye you should expect to spend some years in gaol, it's GBH. It needs to be punished severely for people to get the message that it's not just part of the average nightly brawl that you pick up a glass and go all in.