Australia's Department of Home Affairs is floating an idea to use a facial recognition system called "The Capability" to access age verification on porn and gambling sites.

The department acknowledged that the system is not fully functional, and won't be until Parliament passes the relevant legislation.

Last month, the UK axed a plan to block porn sites which did not implement effective age verification systems.

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Australia's Department of Home Affairs has touted an idea to use facial recognition software in order to verify internet users ages before they can access pornography or gambling websites.

In its parliamentary submission, the department says that its Document Verification Service and Face Verification Service — though broadly intended to be used as systems for fighting crime and identity theft — could also be used by police for age verification controls.

"This could assist in age verification, for example by preventing a minor from using their parent's driver licence to circumvent age verification controls," the submission states.

"Whilst they are primarily designed to prevent identity crime, Home Affairs would support the increased use of the Document and Face Verification Services across the Australian economy to strengthen age verification processes."

Despite the proposal, the Face Verification Service isn't actually fully operational yet. It won't be until Parliament passes the Identity-matching Services Bill of 2019, which was just rejected by the bipartisan joint intelligence and security committee due to its lack of privacy safeguards. The committee recommended the bill be entirely redrafted.

The Document Verification Service, which allows businesses and government agencies to verify an individual's identity documents with the relevant issuers, is operational.

The Australian government is investigating whether current age verification is sufficient

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Announced last month, the Australian House of Representatives Standing Committee on Social Policy and Legal Affairs' inquiry intends to determine whether current age verification systems on porn and gambling sites are sufficient. In the press release announcing the inquiry last month, the committee's chair Andrew Wallace specifically expressed concern there is a discrepancy between the requirements for porn as compared to gambling.

"While customers must verify their age within 14 days to continue using an online wagering account, an age verification process is not required at all for customers to access online pornography," Wallace said.

"This is concerning, as research shows that accessing pornography negatively influences young peoples' attitudes to sex, sexuality and relationships."

The committee stressed in its press release it does not intend to target the "legitimate" use of online porn and gambling.

The committee asserts 44 percent of children between the ages of nine and 16 have reported encountering sexual images online.

The national facial recognition system has been extremely controversial

With the ominous nickname '"The Capability," the national facial recognition database has previously faced scrutiny.

The National Facial Biometrics Matching Capability is intended to utilize photographic documents like passports and drivers licenses to create a national biometric database. This data could then be matched with pictures captured on CCTV to rapidly identify criminals and identity thieves. Australian citizens cannot opt-out of this system, unlike other contentious government data collection programs.

Last month, it was announced the driver's licence photos of every Victorian resident had been uploaded to the database, on the proviso that access would be limited to select, state-based government agencies. The Victorian government had previously flagged its opposition to "The Capability" in its current form.

The Department of Home Affairs' submission on age verification suggests it is willing to extend the purview of "The Capability" beyond a narrow definition of identity fraud.

The UK tried enhanced age verification for online porn – and ditched it earlier this month

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One of the reference points for the parliamentary inquiry into age verification is the UK's proposed porn block system, which would have forced operators of porn sites to implement systems verifying their users are over 18, or face being entirely blocked in the country.

The proposed legislation left it open to site operators as to how the verification would actually be implemented, with facial biometrics being touted as one possible outcome. Another widely derided proposal suggested the introduction of "porn passes" – physical vouchers which could be purchased from shops after showing ID.

But the ban was scrapped earlier in October – after the Australian inquiry was announced, which explicitly referenced the UK experiment.