The Australian Defence Force "has sounded out industry experts who might be able to build an Australian Automated Biometric Information System" on enemy combatants, The Australian reports. "Defence complies with relevant commonwealth privacy legislation and has internal policies governing the collection, storage and use of biometrics from foreign nationals," a spokesman said. The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner has not yet published guidelines on the handling of biometric data, the report states, noting that while the privacy commissioner has confirmed that "anything meeting the definition of personal information" falls under the Privacy Act, intelligence agencies are exempt from the act's operation. (Registration may be required to access this story.)
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