The ACT Human Rights Commission is concerned a yet-to-be developed app for Canberrans to report crime to ACT police won't meet the territory's privacy and human rights obligations.
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The Australian Federal Police have called on developers for a smart phone app allowing Australians to upload photos, videos, emails, location data and other materials for terrorism tip offs.
The app would also be made for ACT Policing to "meet its need for a self-service online reporting capability", according to documents.
Neither the ACT government, ACT Policing nor the AFP would confirm if there had been any consultation with the ACT government on how the app would meet the ACT's human rights charter.
Acting ACT Human Rights commissioner Karen Toohey said the commission had not been consulted and the app could interfere with the territory's privacy legislation.
"We would obviously seek some assurance that basic privacy obligations, but also the obligations that come with the Human Rights Act in the ACT, are being complied with by the developers," Ms Toohey said.
"It appears that the power to collect, use, disclose and retain data is to occur under current [federal] laws, and so we query whether there are adequate safeguards under those laws to ensure that the capability will be a proportionate limitation on the right to privacy as it exists in the ACT."
Ms Toohey said an app with an open-ended, blanket retention of user data could limit a person's right to privacy.
In a statement, the AFP said it "adheres to both state and federal legislation regarding personal information and human rights".
But Ms Toohey said compliance with Australian Privacy Principles and the Commonwealth Privacy Act didn't necessarily mean the right to privacy in the ACT's human rights act was being maintained.
"In the absence of detailed information we are not able to make that assessment. It is also not clear whether [federal Privacy Commissioner Timothy Pilgrim] has been consulted on the proposal," Ms Toohey said.
The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner would not confirm whether it had been consulted but said all government agencies had to comply with federal privacy laws and principles.
Whilst the tender documents also say developers must meet federal privacy laws, they made no mention of the ACT's Human Rights Act.
The ACT government said it had "full confidence" the AFP and ACT police would meet their privacy and human rights obligations with the app.
The AFP would not indicate which developers had approached them so far but documents said they were looking for an off-the-shelf app which had been "demonstrably effective elsewhere".
Ms Toohey said this meant it was not apparent how developers would be including relevant accompanying safeguards for ACT law if the AFP was looking for an off-the-shelf option.
In Queensland, the police app Policelink was rubbished by the state's privacy watchdog.
The Queensland Information Commissioner found Queensland police hadn't considered their legal obligations when protecting the privacy of the app's users.
Tender documents said the app would work in tandem with the terrorism tip off phone line, the national security hotline.
The documents reflect heavily on international terror attacks as the reasons the AFP required the app.
ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr was the only state or territory leader in Australia to raise privacy concerns about the federal government's new facial recognition technology and sought assurance it would meet the ACT's human rights obligations.
