Must Read
.jpeg)
Rite Aid is set to halt its use of facial recognition surveillance in stores for the next five years, as part of a proposed settlement with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC).
The drugstore chain faced accusations of employing inaccurate facial recognition technology that led to wrongful identifications of customers as shoplifters. The settlement aims to address these concerns and prevent further use of such technology by Rite Aid for security or surveillance purposes.
Rite Aid will have to stop using facial recognition surveillance in its stores for five years under a proposed settlement with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission. In a complaint filed today, the FTC accused the drugstore chain of using inaccurate facial recognition tech that wrongly identified some customers as shoplifters.
According to the FTC, Rite Aid deployed a face recognition system across its U.S. stores without notifying shoppers.
The system relied on low-quality security camera images to build a database of suspected shoplifters.
The technology would flag employees if a customer entering a store "matched" the image of one of the alleged shoplifters.
However, the system often inaccurately matched thousands of customers, particularly Black, Latino, or women customers, leading to false shoplifting accusations, according to the FTC.
In one case, Rite Aid's facial recognition system erroneously flagged the same individual as visiting over 130 stores across the U.S. more than 900 times.
The proposed settlement in the case includes a five-year ban on Rite Aid using any facial recognition system for security or surveillance
