Australia’s first live facial recognition trial
On 11 August, ABC News reported on the Western Australia Police’s live facial recognition technology trial. BixeLab has been following the trial with interest, as the first of its kind in Australia. Preliminary results seem to be promising, with the WA Police reporting more than 130,000 faces have been scanned, leading to 33 alerts and contributing to 18 arrests.
Furthermore, as part of the trial, WA Police has implemented and made available information relating to its material safeguards, harm mitigation measures, and impact assessments regarding privacy and equality.
Beyond privacy and equality: evaluating technical performance
Without a doubt, these privacy and equality impact assessments remain crucial parts of the trial. However, a targeted technical performance evaluation would pose a different but equally important question:
“What actually happens when the deployed system encounters the intended population and operating environment?”
By defining its objectives, metrics, decision criteria, and ground truths from the outset, a robust biometric performance evaluation by an accredited laboratory offers invaluable and workable data points for any technology owner. Furthermore, any operational evaluation is filled with moving parts, nuance, and calculations- failure to account for any of the above considerations can lead to inaccurate or flawed evaluation outcomes, meaning that technology owners are misinformed sbout the performance of their technology in the real world.
The role of independent biometric evaluation
As the only NVLAP [Lab Code 600301-0] accredited biometric testing laboratory in Australia, BixeLab is armed with a wealth of experience and expertise across a diverse range of evaluations, technology, and deployment environments. Additionally, BixeLab was the world’s first laboratory to achieve NVLAP accreditation for demographic differential testing against the ISO/IEC 19795-10:2024 standard, which is an especially relevant evaluation scope for facial recognition technologies deployed in the general community. Leveraging this knowledge and expertise, BixeLab is always ready to support law enforcement agencies, technology providers, and oversight bodies in designing and delivering independent evaluations that serve our clients and the greater community.
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