Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull announced that a facial recognition matching agreement has been reached among federal, state and territory leaders at the Council of Australian Governments to update existing practices of data sharing between agencies, the Guardian reports. Federal and state law enforcement will be granted real-time access to passport, visa, citizenship and driver's license images for criminal investigations. “What this is doing is simply making [face matching] available in as near as possible real time,” Turnbull said. He also confirmed that private companies would have access to the data, under supervision, if given government approval. Privacy advocates are concerned the new program is a gateway to mass surveillance, but Turnbull countered, saying, “It doesn't involve surveillance, or indeed mass surveillance.” 
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