Regardless of what is happening, there is one constant that has been observed: when people find out, they rebel.
The largest chain stores in the United States are using facial recognition technology to try to prevent shoplifting. But most customers are unaware that their faces are being analyzed while they shop.
Facial recognition is not new – it has been used controversially for over a decade. Despite widespread disdain for the use of this technology in the United States (it is more common in UK stores), its adoption continues to grow in American stores with few rules and uncertain results.
One constant: when people find out, they rebel.
Just look at the excitement at Wegmans, the supermarket chain known for its cult following. The company angered some customers by revealing that it uses facial recognition technology in New York City stores.
New York City is one of the few places in the country where commercial establishments disclose whether they collect or retain biometric information about customers. The city’s law, enacted in 2021, also prohibits companies from selling or sharing the biometric information they collect. New York state lawmakers proposed banning companies from using facial recognition, but it was halted.
To comply with New York City law, Wegmans recently placed signs near the entrances to its Manhattan and Brooklyn stores, notifying customers that they may have data about their faces, eyes and voices collected and stored. “We use facial recognition technology to protect the safety and security of our customers and employees,” the posters read.
The signs, reported by the news site Gothamist, generated enough attention from the media and customers to prompt Wegmans, clearly media-shy, to issue a rare message.
“In a small fraction of our stores located in high-risk communities, we have installed cameras equipped with facial recognition technology,” Wegmans said in January.
According to Wegmans, the technology identifies people previously identified for “misconduct” and is used only for security purposes.
New York City is an exception, however, to the policies in place in most of the United States.
There is a lack of oversight, transparency and bias in facial recognition technology, says Jeramie Scott, senior advisor at the Electronic Privacy Information Center.
Without federal, state or local regulations to protect civil liberties, the powerful technology can be abused, he explains.
“A lot of facial recognition technology is being used without our knowledge,” he says. “We have not clearly addressed how we will deal with the use of biometrics, in particular the use of facial recognition. The law has not yet been updated.”
Rite Aid e Madison Square Garden
Police departments and law enforcement have used facial recognition technology for more than a decade. But in recent years, this technology has spread to stores and entertainment venues.
Retailers typically have watchlists of people who have been suspected or caught stealing from stores, and facial recognition software generates alerts for employees that someone on a list has entered a store.
Wegmans is just one of many large American retailers currently using facial recognition technology, often without customers’ direct knowledge. Walmart, Kroger and Home Depot use it, in accordance with their privacy policies, to name a few examples.
“Biometric surveillance has become more sophisticated and widespread, posing new threats to privacy and civil rights,” guarantees the Federal Trade Commission in 2023.
The federal government and the vast majority of states do not regulate biometric information, making it difficult to identify private companies that use it for things like facial scans on people entering stores.
However, the technology has been misused and is even leading to false identifications and unfair arrests.
In 2023, Rite Aid agreed to a five-year ban on the use of facial recognition technology, after the Federal Trade Commission concluded that the chain falsely accused customers of crimes and unfairly targeted people of color.
“Rite Aid’s failures have caused and would likely cause substantial harm to consumers, especially Black, Asian, Latino, and female consumers,” the FTC explains.
It was also used to prevent people from attending sporting events and concerts in New York City.
MSG Entertainment, owner of Madison Square Garden and Radio City Music Hall, used the to enforce a “lawyer exclusion list” of lawyers who represent people and keep them away from games and concerts.
“Probably virtually every large and midsize retailer is using biometrics,” says Adam Pollock, an attorney representing the lead plaintiff in a lawsuit against the New York Mets over the collection of biometric data at Citi Field.
The companies themselves don’t like to talk about it, he said, because “Americans are universally sensitive to facial (and) biometric recognition.”
