acer spin 1 price philippines Panama Canal: Troubled watersBy ALEXANDRA OLSON and CATHY BUSSEWITZ NEW YORK (AP) — Walmart’s sweeping rollback of its diversity policies is the strongest indication yet of a profound shift taking hold at U.S. companies that are revaluating the legal and political risks associated with bold programs to bolster historically underrepresented groups in business. The changes announced by the world’s biggest retailer followed a string of legal victories by conservative groups that have filed an onslaught of lawsuits challenging corporate and federal programs aimed at elevating minority and women-owned businesses and employees. The risk associated with some of programs crystalized with the election of former President Donald Trump, whose administration is certain to make dismantling diversity, equity and inclusion programs a priority. Trump’s incoming deputy chief of policy will be his former adviser Stephen Miller , who leads a group called America First Legal that has aggressively challenged corporate DEI policies. “There has been a lot of reassessment of risk looking at programs that could be deemed to constitute reverse discrimination,” said Allan Schweyer, principal researcher the Human Capital Center at the Conference Board. “This is another domino to fall and it is a rather large domino,” he added. Among other changes, Walmart said it will no longer give priority treatment to suppliers owned by women or minorities. The company also will not renew a five-year commitment for a racial equity center set up in 2020 after the police killing of George Floyd. And it pulled out of a prominent gay rights index . Schweyer said the biggest trigger for companies making such changes is simply a reassessment of their legal risk exposure, which began after U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in June 2023 that ended affirmative action in college admissions. Since then, conservative groups using similar arguments have secured court victories against various diversity programs, especially those that steer contracts to minority or women-owned businesses. Most recently, the conservative Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty won a victory in a case against the U.S. Department of Transportation over its use of a program that gives priority to minority-owned businesses when it awards contracts. Companies are seeing a big legal risk in continuing with DEI efforts, said Dan Lennington, a deputy counsel at the institute. His organization says it has identified more than 60 programs in the federal government that it considers discriminatory, he said. “We have a legal landscape within the entire federal government, all three branches — the U.S. Supreme Court, the Congress and the President — are all now firmly pointed in the direction towards equality of individuals and individualized treatment of all Americans, instead of diversity, equity and inclusion treating people as members of racial groups,” Lennington said. The Trump administration is also likely to take direct aim at DEI initiatives through executive orders and other policies that affect private companies, especially federal contractors. “The impact of the election on DEI policies is huge. It can’t be overstated,” said Jason Schwartz, co-chair of the Labor & Employment Practice Group at law firm Gibson Dunn. With Miller returning to the White House, rolling back DEI initiatives is likely to be a priority, Schwartz said. “Companies are trying to strike the right balance to make clear they’ve got an inclusive workplace where everyone is welcome, and they want to get the best talent, while at the same time trying not to alienate various parts of their employees and customer base who might feel one way or the other. It’s a virtually impossible dilemma,” Schwartz said. A recent survey by Pew Research Center showed that workers are divided on the merits of DEI policies. While still broadly popular, the share of workers who said focusing on workplace diversity was mostly a good thing fell to 52% in the November survey, compared to 56% in a similar survey in February 2023. Rachel Minkin, a research associated at Pew called it a small but significant shift in short amount of time. There will be more companies pulling back from their DEI policies, but it likely won’t be a retreat across the board, said David Glasgow, executive director of the Meltzer Center for Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging at New York University. “There are vastly more companies that are sticking with DEI,” Glasgow said. “The only reason you don’t hear about it is most of them are doing it by stealth. They’re putting their heads down and doing DEI work and hoping not to attract attention.” Glasgow advises organizations to stick to their own core values, because attitudes toward the topic can change quickly in the span of four years. “It’s going to leave them looking a little bit weak if there’s a kind of flip-flopping, depending on whichever direction the political winds are blowing,” he said. One reason DEI programs exist is because without those programs, companies may be vulnerable to lawsuits for traditional discrimination. “Really think carefully about the risks in all directions on this topic,” Glasgow said. Walmart confirmed will no longer consider race and gender as a litmus test to improve diversity when it offers supplier contracts. Last fiscal year, Walmart said it spent more than $13 billion on minority, women or veteran-owned good and service suppliers. It was unclear how its relationships with such business would change going forward. Organizations that that have partnered with Walmart on its diversity initiatives offered a cautious response. The Women’s Business Enterprise National Council, a non-profit that last year named Walmart one of America’s top corporation for women-owned enterprises, said it was still evaluating the impact of Walmart’s announcement. Pamela Prince-Eason, the president and CEO of the organization, said she hoped Walmart’s need to cater to its diverse customer base will continue to drive contracts to women-owned suppliers even if the company no longer has explicit dollar goals. “I suspect Walmart will continue to have one of the most inclusive supply chains in the World,” Prince-Eason wrote. “Any retailer’s ability to serve the communities they operate in will continue to value understanding their customers, (many of which are women), in order to better provide products and services desired and no one understands customers better than Walmart.” Walmart’s announcement came after the company spoke directly with conservative political commentator and activist Robby Starbuck, who has been going after corporate DEI policies, calling out individual companies on the social media platform X. Several of those companies have subsequently announced that they are pulling back their initiatives, including Ford , Harley-Davidson, Lowe’s and Tractor Supply . Walmart confirmed to The Associated Press that it will better monitor its third-party marketplace items to make sure they don’t feature sexual and transgender products aimed at minors. The company also will stop participating in the Human Rights Campaign’s annual benchmark index that measures workplace inclusion for LGBTQ+ employees. A Walmart spokesperson added that some of the changes were already in progress and not as a result of conversations that it had with Starbuck. RaShawn “Shawnie” Hawkins, senior director of the HRC Foundation’s Workplace Equality Program, said companies that “abandon” their commitments workplace inclusion policies “are shirking their responsibility to their employees, consumers, and shareholders.” She said the buying power of LGBTQ customers is powerful and noted that the index will have record participation of more than 1,400 companies in 2025.

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Former Green Party leader Caroline Lucas has also resigned as vice-president of the animal welfare organisation, with both of them expressing their “sadness” over leaving the roles. It comes after an Animal Rising investigation made claims of cruelty at “RSPCA Assured” slaughterhouses in England and Scotland, with the campaign group sharing footage of alleged mistreatment. RSPCA Assured is a scheme whereby approved farms must comply with the organisation’s “stringent higher welfare standards”, according to its website. Mr Packham shared the news of his resignation on social media, saying: “It is with enormous sadness that I have resigned from my role as president of the RSPCA. “I would like to register my respect and admiration for all the staff and volunteers who work tirelessly to protect animals from cruelty.” Ms Lucas said she and Mr Packham failed to get the charity’s leadership to act. She posted on X, formerly Twitter: “With huge sadness I’m resigning as VP of the RSPCA, a role I’ve held with pride for over 15 years. “But their Assured Schemes risk misleading the public & legitimising cruelty. “I tried with @ChrisGPackham to persuade the leadership to act but sadly failed.” In June, the RSPCA commissioned an independent review of 200 farms on its assurance scheme which concluded the scheme was “operating effectively” to assure animal welfare on member farms. Following Animal Rising’s release of footage last week, the charity said it was “appalled” by what was shown, adding that it launched an immediate investigation and suspended three slaughterhouses from the scheme. In the wake of Mr Packham and Ms Lucas’ resignations, an RSPCA spokesperson said it is “simply not true” that the organisation has failed to take urgent action. They said: “We agree with Chris and Caroline on so many issues and have achieved so much together for animals, but we differ on how best to address the incredibly complex and difficult issue of farmed animal welfare. “We have discussed our work to drive up farmed animal welfare standards openly at length with them on many occasions and it is simply not true that we have not taken urgent action. “We took allegations of poor welfare incredibly seriously, launching an independent review of 200 farms which concluded that it was ‘operating effectively’ to improve animal welfare. “We are taking strong steps to improve oversight of welfare, implementing the recommendations in full including significantly increasing unannounced visits, and exploring technology such as body-worn cameras and CCTV, supported by £2 million of investment.” The charity insisted that while 94% of people continue to choose to eat meat, fish, eggs and dairy, it is the “right thing to do” to work with farmers to improve the lives of animals. “RSPCA Assured visit all farms on the scheme every year, but last year just 3% of farms were assessed for animal welfare by state bodies,” the spokesperson continued. “No-one else is doing this work. We are the only organisation setting and regularly monitoring animal welfare standards on farms. “We have pioneered change through RSPCA Assured, which has led to improvements throughout the industry including CCTV in slaughterhouses, banning barren battery cages for hens and sow stalls for pigs, giving salmon more space to swim and developing slower growing chicken breeds who have better quality of life.”"Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum." Section 1.10.32 of "de Finibus Bonorum et Malorum", written by Cicero in 45 BC "Sed ut perspiciatis unde omnis iste natus error sit voluptatem accusantium doloremque laudantium, totam rem aperiam, eaque ipsa quae ab illo inventore veritatis et quasi architecto beatae vitae dicta sunt explicabo. Nemo enim ipsam voluptatem quia voluptas sit aspernatur aut odit aut fugit, sed quia consequuntur magni dolores eos qui ratione voluptatem sequi nesciunt. Neque porro quisquam est, qui dolorem ipsum quia dolor sit amet, consectetur, adipisci velit, sed quia non numquam eius modi tempora incidunt ut labore et dolore magnam aliquam quaerat voluptatem. Ut enim ad minima veniam, quis nostrum exercitationem ullam corporis suscipit laboriosam, nisi ut aliquid ex ea commodi consequatur? Quis autem vel eum iure reprehenderit qui in ea voluptate velit esse quam nihil molestiae consequatur, vel illum qui dolorem eum fugiat quo voluptas nulla pariatur?" 1914 translation by H. Rackham "But I must explain to you how all this mistaken idea of denouncing pleasure and praising pain was born and I will give you a complete account of the system, and expound the actual teachings of the great explorer of the truth, the master-builder of human happiness. No one rejects, dislikes, or avoids pleasure itself, because it is pleasure, but because those who do not know how to pursue pleasure rationally encounter consequences that are extremely painful. Nor again is there anyone who loves or pursues or desires to obtain pain of itself, because it is pain, but because occasionally circumstances occur in which toil and pain can procure him some great pleasure. To take a trivial example, which of us ever undertakes laborious physical exercise, except to obtain some advantage from it? But who has any right to find fault with a man who chooses to enjoy a pleasure that has no annoying consequences, or one who avoids a pain that produces no resultant pleasure?" 1914 translation by H. Rackham "But I must explain to you how all this mistaken idea of denouncing pleasure and praising pain was born and I will give you a complete account of the system, and expound the actual teachings of the great explorer of the truth, the master-builder of human happiness. No one rejects, dislikes, or avoids pleasure itself, because it is pleasure, but because those who do not know how to pursue pleasure rationally encounter consequences that are extremely painful. Nor again is there anyone who loves or pursues or desires to obtain pain of itself, because it is pain, but because occasionally circumstances occur in which toil and pain can procure him some great pleasure. To take a trivial example, which of us ever undertakes laborious physical exercise, except to obtain some advantage from it? But who has any right to find fault with a man who chooses to enjoy a pleasure that has no annoying consequences, or one who avoids a pain that produces no resultant pleasure?" To keep reading, please log in to your account, create a free account, or simply fill out the form below.

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During Saturday's Pop-Tarts Bowl between the Miami Hurricanes and Iowa State Cyclones, an altercation erupted on the Miami sideline during the second quarter, with two teammates throwing punches. The altercation came amid a high-scoring first half, with each team putting up 28 points midway through the second quarter. This article will be updated soon to provide more information and analysis. For more from Bleacher Report on this topic and from around the sports world, check out our B/R app , homepage and social feeds—including Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and TikTok .

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Party City to close its stores as company files for bankruptcy LOS ANGELES (AP) — Party City announced that it's going to “wind down” its retail and wholesale operations as it prepares to shutter nearly 700 stores nationwide. The company said Saturday it has also filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection "to maximize value for the benefit of the company’s stakeholders.” The New Jersey-based retailer said it will keep more than 95% of its 12,000 employees to help with the process of closing down. Customers have flocked to Party City for Halloween costumes, favors for children’s birthday parties and decorations for New Year’s Eve celebrations for nearly 40 years. It has faced growing competition from Walmart and Target and from occasion-based pop-up stores such as Spirit Halloween. A million taxpayers will soon receive up to $1,400 from the IRS. Who are they and why now? Approximately 1 million taxpayers will automatically receive special payments of up to $1,400 from the IRS in the coming weeks. The money will be directly deposited into eligible people’s bank accounts or sent in the mail by a paper check. Most people shouldn't get their hopes up about receiving the cash. The IRS says it’s distributing about $2.4 billion to taxpayers who failed to claim a Recovery Rebate Credit on their 2021 tax returns after missing one of the COVID stimulus payments or receiving less than the full amount. The IRS says most taxpayers eligible for the federal stimulus payments received them. Bluesky finds with growth comes growing pains — and bots Bluesky has seen its user base soar since the U.S. presidential election, boosted by people seeking refuge from Elon Musk’s X, or wanting an alternative to Meta’s Threads and its algorithms. The platform grew out of the company then known as Twitter and was eventually intended to replace it. While this is still very much a pie in the sky, Bluesky’s growth trajectory could make it a serious competitor to other social platforms. With growth, though, comes growing pains. It’s not just human users who’ve been flocking to Bluesky but also bots, including those designed to create partisan division or direct users to junk websites. 'Sonic 3' bests 'Mufasa: The Lion King' at the box office NEW YORK (AP) — In the holiday season battle of big-budget family movies, Paramount Pictures’ “Sonic the Hedgehog 3” sped past the Walt Disney Co.’s “Mufasa: The Lion King” to take the top spot at the box office. The results came just ahead of the lucrative Christmas corridor in theaters. According to studio estimates, “Sonic the Hedgehog 3” debuted with $62 million in ticket sales over the weekend. “Mufasa,” however, was humbled in its opening weekend, coming in notably shy of expectations. It returned just $35 million in domestic ticket sales. Amazon and Starbucks workers are on strike. Trump might have something to do with it Amazon delivery drivers and Starbucks baristas are on strike in a handful of U.S. cities as they seek to exert pressure on the two major companies to recognize them as unionized employees or to meet demands for an inaugural labor contract. Strikes during busy periods like the holidays can help unions exercise leverage during negotiations or garner support from sympathetic consumers. One expert says he thinks workers at both companies are “desperate” to make progress before President-elect Donald Trump can appoint a Republican majority to the National Labor Relations Board. Workers at Starbucks, Amazon and some other prominent consumer brands are fighting for their first contracts after several locations voted to unionize. Farmers are still reeling months after Hurricane Helene ravaged crops across the South LYONS, Ga. (AP) — Farmers in Georgia are still reeling more than two months after Hurricane Helene blew away cotton, destroyed ripened squash and cucumbers and uprooted pecan trees and timber. Agribusinesses in other Southern states saw costly damage as well. The University of Georgia estimates the September storm inflicted $5.5 billion in direct losses and indirect costs in Georgia alone. In rural Toombs County, Chris Hopkins just finished harvesting his ravaged cotton crop and figures he lost half of it, costing him about $430,000. Poultry grower Jeffrey Pridgen in Georgia's Coffee County had four of his 12 chicken houses destroyed and others badly damaged. Farmers say more government disaster assistance is needed. Ex-OpenAI engineer who raised legal concerns about the technology he helped build has died Suchir Balaji, a former OpenAI engineer and whistleblower who helped train the artificial intelligence systems behind ChatGPT and later said he believed those practices violated copyright law, has died, according to his parents and San Francisco officials. He was 26. He was well-regarded by colleagues at the San Francisco company, where a co-founder this week called him one of OpenAI’s strongest contributors who was essential to developing some of its products. But he grew disillusioned with the company and told The Associated Press this fall he would “try to testify” in copyright infringement cases against it. Federal Reserve's preferred inflation gauge shows price pressures eased last month WASHINGTON (AP) — An inflation gauge that is closely watched by the Federal Reserve barely rose last month in a sign that price pressures cooled after two months of sharp gains. Prices rose just 0.1% from October to November. Excluding the volatile food and energy categories, prices also ticked up just 0.1%, after two months of outsize 0.3% gains. The milder inflation figures arrived two days after Federal Reserve officials, led by Chair Jerome Powell, rocked financial markets by revealing that they now expect to cut their key interest rate just two times in 2025, down from four in their previous estimate. Albania to close TikTok for a year blaming it for promoting violence among children TIRANA, Albania (AP) — Albania’s prime minister says the government will shut down video service TikTok for one year, blaming it for inciting violence and bullying, especially among children. Albanian authorities held 1,300 meetings with teachers and parents following the stabbing death of a teenager in mid-November by another teenager following a quarrel that started on TikTok. Prime Minister Edi Rama, speaking at a meeting with teachers and parents, said TikTok “would be fully closed for all. ... There will be no TikTok in the Republic of Albania.” Rama says the ban will begin sometime next year. Albanian children comprise the largest group of TikTok users in the country, according to domestic researchers. Stock market today: Wall Street rises to turn a dismal week into just a bad one NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks rose to turn what would have been one of the market’s worst weeks of the year into just a pretty bad one. The S&P 500 rallied 1.1% Friday to shave its loss for the week down to 2%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped nearly 500 points, and the Nasdaq composite gained 1%. A report said a measure of inflation the Federal Reserve likes to use was slightly lower last month than expected. It’s an encouraging signal after the Fed shocked markets Wednesday by saying worries about inflation could keep it from cutting interest rates in 2025 as much as earlier thought.

...Entrepreneurs will shake up the nation In Furtherance to consolidating its role as a driver of socio-economic empowerment and sustainable development in Nigeria, Dangote Cement Plc has trained and graduated 46 Solar Energy installers and entrepreneurs. Plant Director, Dangote Cement Plc, Obajana, Azad Nawabuddin, said the new graduands were ready to “Shakeup the nation” in the renewable energy sector of Nigeria’s economy. Speaking at the graduation ceremony, which took place at the Dangote Academy, Obajana, Engr. Azad said the Group President, Aliko Dangote, was passionate about youth empowerment as it supports the government’s effort in the provision of jobs, noting that this training will support the provision of electricity in the communities and the country at large. The Plant Director, who was represented by the Head of the Production Department, Engr John Gwong, described the training as a meal ticket, a rare opportunity and futuristic.” Engr Azad said the programme was part of Dangote Cement’s Corporate Social Responsibility scheme. The Head of Social Performance Dangote Cement Plc, Mr Wakeel Olayiwola, who was represented by Mr Olusegun Olojede said the solar energy experts and entrepreneurs will support the government in the provision of power supply to millions of Nigerians. General Manager of Community Affairs and Special Duties, Mr Ademola Adeyemi, said the empowerment scheme is a way of giving back to the society, and that of the 46 beneficiaries, 27 are men, while 19 are women. Mr. Adeyemi said the beneficiary communities in Kogi State are: Obajana, Oyo, Iwaa and Apata, adding that the training was conducted in collaboration with the Industrial Training Fund (ITF). In his response, the Training Manager at ITF, Kogi State, Engr. Abdulrahman Shehu Wudilawa said the beneficiaries should consider themselves fortunate as Solar Technology is one of the most lucrative sectors of the Nigerian economy. He said Nigeria has enough sunlight which is the major raw material for solar energy installation. The ITF provided the training and certification for the beneficiaries. On the advantages of solar energy, he said, Solar energy generation produces no greenhouse gas emissions or air pollutants, significantly reducing the carbon footprint compared to traditional energy sources like coal or natural gas. It also helps combat climate change. The Bajana of Obajana, HRH Idowu Isenibi, extolled the company’s Group President for his foresight and patriotism towards the development of Nigeria. Representatives from Apata, Iwata and Oyo communities also spoke glowingly of the scheme. Miss Ramata Ahmed and Master Abraham Samson, on behalf of other participants, expressed appreciation to the management for the opportunities giving them to be part of the training and promised to make good use of the skills acquired to better their lots, their respective communities and the country.Walmart’s DEI rollback signals a profound shift in the wake of Trump’s election victory

BC women’s basketball top Holy Cross in convincing fashionTechnology Don't miss out on the headlines from Technology. Followed categories will be added to My News. While most Australians support Bunnings using facial recognition technology (FRT) to protect customers and staff, one of the nation’s leading experts in the field has warned it’s far from foolproof. In a poll conducted by news.com.au, 78 per cent of the almost 11,000 people who voted backed the company’s use of the controversial program as an “important tool”. It comes after the Privacy Commissioner found Bunnings had breached Australians’ privacy over the course of three years, ruling “just because a technology may be helpful or convenient, does not mean its use is justifiable”. Former Human Rights Commissioner Edward Santow has explained why the “experimental” technology was unsettling for authorities despite the “legitimate concerns” of issues like crime prevention. An alleged assault at Midland Bunnings in 2020. Picture: Bunnings He said the current generation of FRT generally relied on data captured without “rigour” by big tech companies scraping our social media. “So there’ll be people caught up in that who have never been accused, let alone convicted, of any crime,” Mr Santow said. “What you’re creating with this sort of facial recognition is a kind of virtual line up and we’re always in it every time we walk into one of those stores.” Bunnings was this week found to have breached privacy by capturing the faces of “likely hundreds of thousands” of Australians who entered 63 Bunnings stores in Victoria and NSW from November 2018 to November 2021. It has not used the technology since its trial ended in November 2021. Bunnings Managing Director Michael Schneider said the company believes it was using FTR lawfully. Picture: AAP Image/Joel Carrett The hardware giant maintained that using the technology was an important safety measure, and released a compilation of shocking incidents in stores which included clips or armed robbers, staff being physically attacked, and a naked man following an employee. Managing Director Michael Schneider said the ruling did not “pass the pub test”, adding images were captured and held for 0.00417 seconds – “or less than the blink of an eye”. “I think any reasonably minded person is going to understand that is not capturing and storing data,” Mr Schneider said. “Particularly when you look at it through the lens of keeping our team and our customers safe.” Privacy Commissioner Carly Kind said FRT had “emerged as one of the most ethically challenging” issues in recent years. She accepted Bunnings had “well-intentioned efforts to address unlawful activity” but found “deploying facial recognition technology was the most intrusive option, disproportionately interfering with the privacy of everyone who entered its stores, not just high-risk individuals”. Some kinds of facial recognition technology is still considered “experimental”. Picture: iStock Mr Santow, co-founder of the University of Technology Sydney’s Human Technology Institute, said the privacy commissioner’s ruling was “balanced” in recognising Bunnings’ good intentions and declining to impose any financial penalties. “But what (Ms Kind) was really saying was that in this specific situation, they weren’t taking strong enough privacy protections,” he said. On its website Bunnings states how the technology is used with matches to a “potential offender” sending an alert to staff who then manually check the images. If confirmed, a loss prevention officer would then decide to deploy a security officer to monitor the person, inform store leadership and/or call police. Bunnings was using the technology between 2018 and 2021. Picture: NewsWire / Andrew Henshaw Mr Santow said from a safety perspective, the problem for staff confronted by a person armed with a weapon was not whether you could identify them. “Your problem is whether you can get a police or a security guard or something to protect your staff,” he said. “I’m very, very sympathetic to any staff member or anybody else who’s affected, but it’s got almost nothing to with facial recognition.” The human rights lawyer said Australia’s laws surrounding FRT were “pretty vague”, and “don’t set clear rules about when you can and can’t” use it. He said lists of banned or suspected individuals were usually maintained by companies, not “official” databases created by police or government agencies. It’s understood Bunnings used sources such as staff reports, CCTV and police advice to compile its database. This man was captured on camera after entering the Taree store naked last year. Picture: Bunnings Another issue with this type of facial recognition is that error rates were “significantly higher” for people with dark skin, women, those with physical disabilities and young people. “So that actually takes in quite a lot of the community, basically anyone who doesn’t look like me. I’m a white, middle aged man,” Mr Santow said. “It’s pretty accurate for people who look like me, but if you don’t make that description, it’s less accurate, and that means that you’re having the errors cluster, particularly in respect of those sorts of groups where that’s really unfair.” Former Human Rights Commissioner Edward Santow says there needs to be a balance between privacy and safety. Picture: AAP Image/Joel Carrett Mr Schneider said using the technology was “all about safety”, and that it was targeting people who were not the kind “you want your family, your kids around at any time”. “We’ve seen a significant rise in violent and aggressive behaviour towards frontline workers, whether they’re in a Bunnings store, in a fast-food outlet, in a supermarket environment,” he said. “It’s something that as an industry we’ve been working hard to get legislation changed to raise the awareness of this. “The types of people we’re talking about here, no one wants to be around. They’re convicted felons, they’re people who have been identified as perpetrating violent crime.” He said “70 per cent of incidents are caused by the same group of people” and the high volume of customers coming through the doors made it “virtually impossible” to enforce bans. A staff member was pushed to the ground at Greenacre Bunnings in 2018. Picture: Bunnings Mr Santow said there may be a place for FRT in addressing crime, and pointed to the example of the European Union which had recently provided guidelines for its use to agencies. “Our privacy law was passed in the 1980s before the rise of the internet, let alone things like facial recognition technology and it’s dangerously out of date,” he said. “Obviously, my background is as a human rights lawyer, so I care really deeply about the community, but I actually really care about business as well. “Because I think they suffer from the law being so out of date because the rules are not as clear as they need to be.” Consumer group Choice, which brought attention to Bunnings, Kmart and The Good Guys using facial recognition technology in 2022 , said this week’s determination was a “landmark decision”. More Coverage ‘Control’: Musk’s chilling warning to Aussies Joseph Olbrycht-Palmer ‘Worried’: Biggest threat to Coles, Woolies Duncan Evans Originally published as How facial recognition technology puts us in a ‘virtual line-up’ Join the conversation Add your comment to this story To join the conversation, please log in. Don't have an account? Register Join the conversation, you are commenting as Logout More related stories Motoring News ‘Shame’: Aussie EV push backfires big time Car industry warns that a policy intended to drive motorists toward electric cars could have the opposite effect. Read more Gadgets Urgent safety recall for JB Hi-Fi product A popular product sold at JB Hi-Fi stores between January and October has sparked serious safety concerns. Read moreIs Recursion Pharmaceuticals Stock a Millionaire Maker?Top war-crimes court issues arrest warrants for Netanyahu and others in Israel-Hamas fighting