Wellington International Airport facial recognition trial is exposed

New Zealand's Wellington International Airport quietly trialled a facial recognition system despite being warned not to by the country's Office of the Privacy Commissioner of New Zealand. 

Having started the trial in June, the airport reportedly used the system to count how many passengers passed through security, and how long they spend queuing.

The Privacy Commissioner argued the tool's impact on privacy outweighed its benefits, and could lead to its use by other agencies, including law enforcement or intelligence agencies.

The Commissioner also criticised New Zealand's Aviation Security Service's decision not to issue a press release about the new technology, or to include information about it on the airport website.