Australian Advocacy Group Raises Concerns About In-store Facial Recognition

The Australian consumer advocacy group Choice is sounding the alarm about facial recognition in brick-and-mortar retail outlets. The organization queried 25 of the country’s largest retailers, and found that three – Bunnings, Kmart, and The Good Guys – are already using facial recognition to capture the images of people in their stores.

All three companies indicated that they are only using the technology in a limited number of stores, and that they are doing so to prevent theft and to protect their staff. Bunnings, in particular, argued that employees have had to deal with a higher number of unruly customers in the past few years, and that CCTV surveillance helps mitigate that threat. The same technology also gives company the ability to spot and track shoplifters in the aisles.

However, the footage from the CCTV cameras is being used to generate faceprints, and the three companies seem to be retaining that biometric information, insofar as those prints can be used to identify someone on a future visit. The three stores claimed that that biometric data is being stored in a manner that is compliant with Australia’s Privacy Act.

On that front, Bunnings, Kmart, and The Good Guys all disclosed their use of facial recognition, either online or on small signs at store entrances. Choice nevertheless believes that those measures do not do enough to guarantee people’s privacy, especially given the sensitive nature of facial biometrics. The organization released a survey that found that the majority (78 percent) of Australian consumers were worried the storage of their data.

“Discreet signage and online privacy policies are not nearly enough to adequately inform shoppers that this controversial technology is in use,” said Choice consumer data advocate Kate Bower. “Choice is concerned that Australian businesses are using facial recognition technology on consumers before Australians have had their say on its use in our community.”

Australian privacy law does allow businesses to pull photographs from CCTV cameras in their own establishments, though Choice believes that that policy is outdated given the current rate of innovation. Seventy-five percent of consumers are worried that the data will be used to create customer profiles and targeted marketing campaigns. In that regard, The Good Guys acknowledged that it is using facial recognition to try to improve the customer experience.

Choice has notified the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner about the use of facial recognition in the three stores, and the OAIC has pledged to look into the matter. Facial recognition is being used in Co-op grocery stores in the UK, though in that case it was deployed with less transparency and with more questions about the company’s technology partners.

Companies like VSBLTY are also offering smart retail solutions that use computer vision to provide stores with better consumer data. Those solutions may not necessarily identify individual customers and therefore can fall short of true facial recognition.

Source: The Guardian

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June 17, 2022 – by Eric Weiss