American drugstore chain Rite Aid was banned by the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) from using AI facial recognition technology for surveillance purposes for five years.
According to the FTC, the retailer “failed to implement reasonable procedures and prevent harm to consumers in its use of facial recognition technology in hundreds of stores.”
The chain deployed the technology for eight years across 200 stores to help identify those who had previously shoplifted from its outlets, the agency says. If a match was spotted, security staff would confront the potential thief and order them to leave.
The company’s facial recognition database was built by two companies contracted by Rite Aid and included tens of thousands of individuals. Many, the FTC disclosed, were low quality and came from store security cameras, employee phones, and even news stories.
This resulted in thousands of false positive targets being followed, searched, harassed, removed, and having the cops called on them – sometimes in front of friends and family, says the FTC, which also revealed the actions disproportionately impacted people of color.
“The technology sometimes matched customers with people who had originally been enrolled in the database based on activity thousands of miles away, or flagged the same person at dozens of different stores all across the United States,” notes the commission.
Commissioner Alvaro M Bedoya said that among the false positives was an 11-year-old girl who was subsequently searched.
The FTC claims Rite Aid never tested, assessed, measured or documented the accuracy of the technology. In addition to not informing consumers the technology was in use, it discouraged employees from revealing it themselves, the agency reports. Employees were not trained in using facial recognition technology either.
Rite Aid stopped using the tech after it was reported in the media in 2020, which, according to Rite Aid, was a decision made “in part based on a larger industry conversation.”
The FTC has ordered Rite Aid to undertake a list of measures, including deleting any images or photos collected for the facial recognition system, as well as algorithms or related products; notify consumers; respond to related consumer complaints in writing, and provide clear notice to shoppers of any biometric surveillance technology in stores; delete any biometric data it collects within five years; implement a data security program; obtain independent third-party assessments and provide the commission with an annual certification from its CEO of its adherence.
Rite Aid said in a statement:
We are pleased to reach an agreement with the FTC and put this matter behind us. We respect the FTC’s inquiry and are aligned with the agency’s mission to protect consumer privacy. However, we fundamentally disagree with the facial recognition allegations in the agency’s complaint. The allegations relate to a facial recognition technology pilot program the Company deployed in a limited number of stores. Rite Aid stopped using the technology in this small group of stores more than three years ago, before the FTC’s investigation regarding the Company’s use of the technology began.
Rite Aid’s mission has always been and will continue to be to safely and conveniently serve the communities in which we operate. The safety of our associates and customers is paramount. As part of the agreement with the FTC, we will continue to enhance and formalize the practices and policies of our comprehensive information security program.
Looking ahead, we are focused on the important actions underway to strengthen our financial position as we continue providing leading healthcare products and services to the nearly one million customers that we serve daily.”
In October 2023, the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy thanks to a large debt load, slumping sales, and thousands of lawsuits alleging involvement in the opioid crisis. ®
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- Source: https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2023/12/20/rite_aid_facial_recognition/
