Many Māori do not like places with security cameras. Photo / Michael Cunningham
Many Māori do not like places with security cameras. Photo / Michael Cunningham
A study of New Zealanders’ attitudes to privacy shows higher levels of concern among Māori.
The biennial privacy survey of nearly 1200 New Zealanders (including more than 320 Māori) was released last week to mark Privacy Week 2024.
Pou ārahi at the Office of the Privacy Commissioner, Shane Heremaia (Ngati Tūwharetoa, Te Arawa), says the survey showed Māori are more concerned about privacy in every way.
Heremaia said Māori were loud on clear about what gets up their noses.
“We re committed to address the concerns that Māori raise and answer those concerns,” Heremaia told the Herald.
“For instance with the facial recognition technology, Māori have seen that used s a bias toward them and they were being wrongly identified by supermarkets - we have already had a case in Rotorua.”
He said some Māori also had a mistrust of government departments and what their information was being used for.
“Privacy concerns drive behaviour. A standout example among Māori is that 32 per cent stated that in the past 12 months they’ve avoided contacting a government department due to privacy concerns. For non-Māori that figure is 14 per cent,” he said.
Pou ārahi at the Office of the Privacy Commissioner, Shane Heremaia.
Māori are more likely to also have avoided doing a range of other activities due to privacy concerns, including using social media (44 per cent v 32 per cent non-Māori), online shopping (43 per cent to 26 per cent), online dating (41 per cent v 26 per cent), signing up for loyalty cards (36 per cent v 22 per cent) or visiting a particular place due to surveillance concerns (30 per cent v 14 per cent).
“Māori were also more likely to express concern about bias in facial recognition. This included being concerned about it being used without people being told or agreeing to it, its use in retail stores to identify individuals and its use by law enforcement to identify individuals in public spaces.
“Facial recognition is clearly an issue for Māori. This reflects concerns expressed by the Privacy Commissioner about bias and accuracy in the use of facial recognition technology and how he’s worried about what this means for Māori, Pasifika, Indian, and Asian shoppers, especially when the software is not trained on New Zealand’s population.”
Privacy is a big issue world wide. Photo / Comedy Central
The survey also shows that Māori are more concerned about children’s privacy, with 88 per cent wanting the Government to pass more legislation that protects children’s privacy, while 80 per cent said that protecting children’s information was a major concern in their life, which is significantly higher than the 59 per cent figure for non-Māori.
One positive development was that 54 per cent of Māori are aware that the Privacy Act gives them rights to a copy of any personal information an organisation holds about them. While this is an increase from 50 per cent in 2022, there is still a lot of room to make people more aware of their privacy rights and what they can do if their rights are breached.
“It’s clear Māori are increasingly aware of the importance of privacy and are wanting greater control of their personal privacy. There’s also greater understanding of the possible negative consequences new technology like facial recognition technology might have and it’s important Māori views regarding privacy are represented and understood.
“We are trying to educate people. Golden rule about social media is if you don’t want it out there, don’t put it out there.”
