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Retailers' use of shoplifters' images may breach privacy law, New Zealand watchdog warns

( September 23, 2025, 01:28 GMT | Official Statement) -- MLex Summary: Retailers sharing images of suspected shoplifters could be breaching privacy law, New Zealand’s privacy watchdog has warned. In a statement accompanying new guidance for retailers, New Zealand Privacy Commissioner Michael Webster said the country’s Privacy Act protected people’s personal information, which includes their image. As a result, the local practice by some retailers of creating a “wall of shame” made up of customers’ images, or the sharing of those images on social media in posts including CCTV images, could have legal consequences. Webster also warned that people whose images are wrongly linked to criminality could suffer emotional harm and could even place them at risk of physical harm.The statement from New Zealand Privacy Commissioner Michael Webster is below, followed by the new guidance:...

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