Federal regulators said Rite Aid activated the face-scanning technology, which uses artificial intelligence to attempt to identify people captured by surveillance cameras, in hundreds of stores between 2012 and 2020 in hopes of cracking down on shoplifters and other problematic customers.
But the chain’s “reckless” failure to adopt safeguards, coupled with the technology’s long history of inaccurate matches and racial biases, ultimately led store employees to falsely accuse shoppers of theft, leading to “embarrassment, harassment, and other harm” in front of their family members, co-workers and friends, the FTC said in a statement.
In one case, a Rite Aid employee searched an 11-year-old girl because of a false facial recognition match, leaving her so distraught that her mother missed work, the FTC said in a federal court complaint.
The FTC action could send ripple effects through the other major retail chains in the United States that have pursued facial recognition technology, such as Home Depot, Macy’s and Albertsons, according to a “scorecard” by Fight for the Future, an advocacy group.
Evan Greer, the group’s director, said in a statement, “The message to corporate America is clear: stop using discriminatory and invasive facial recognition now, or get ready to pay the price.”
Joy Buolamwini, an AI researcher who has studied facial recognition’s racial biases, said the Rite Aid case was an “urgent reminder” that the country’s failure to enact comprehensive privacy laws had left Americans vulnerable to risky experiments in public surveillance.
The original article contains 1,023 words, the summary contains 241 words. Saved 76%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Federal regulators said Rite Aid activated the face-scanning technology, which uses artificial intelligence to attempt to identify people captured by surveillance cameras, in hundreds of stores between 2012 and 2020 in hopes of cracking down on shoplifters and other problematic customers.
But the chain’s “reckless” failure to adopt safeguards, coupled with the technology’s long history of inaccurate matches and racial biases, ultimately led store employees to falsely accuse shoppers of theft, leading to “embarrassment, harassment, and other harm” in front of their family members, co-workers and friends, the FTC said in a statement.
In one case, a Rite Aid employee searched an 11-year-old girl because of a false facial recognition match, leaving her so distraught that her mother missed work, the FTC said in a federal court complaint.
The FTC action could send ripple effects through the other major retail chains in the United States that have pursued facial recognition technology, such as Home Depot, Macy’s and Albertsons, according to a “scorecard” by Fight for the Future, an advocacy group.
Evan Greer, the group’s director, said in a statement, “The message to corporate America is clear: stop using discriminatory and invasive facial recognition now, or get ready to pay the price.”
Joy Buolamwini, an AI researcher who has studied facial recognition’s racial biases, said the Rite Aid case was an “urgent reminder” that the country’s failure to enact comprehensive privacy laws had left Americans vulnerable to risky experiments in public surveillance.
The original article contains 1,023 words, the summary contains 241 words. Saved 76%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!