Australians are ready to accept tighter security measures because of their fears of terror attacks, new research has found. Conducted by the University of South Australia, the research found a majority of Australians are prepared to trade off convenience and privacy and accept such measures as facial recognition technology, a national ID card system, biometric scanning and vehicle tracking. “It seems Australians are fairly ready to trade off quite strong incursions into their personal privacy if they believe these will be effective in making their world safer,” researcher Simon Fifer said.
“As Australians we like to think of ourselves as naturally a bit rebellious towards authority but our research is really not supporting that stereotype.” The university conducted two waves of research, taking samples from across the country with the second wave conducted just after the siege at the Lindt Cafe in Sydney in December.
It revealed more than 50 per cent acceptance for a range of measures, including bomb detection for vehicles in parking areas, biometric scanning at airports, x-ray scanning at major events and transport terminals, facial recognition technology, national ID cards, access to all travel information, satellite surveillance, retina scanning, military security, vehicle tracking, mandatory DNA records and internet monitoring.
