The American pharmacy chain Rite Aid has reached an agreement with the Consumer Protection Agency (FTC), which accuses it of having unfairly accused its customers of theft based on facial recognition.
Because of recurring thefts, the Philadelphia (northeast) group had entrusted two service providers with creating a database that included people suspected of having committed a crime in one of its pharmacies, according to the FTC.
It was fueled by images, “many of them of poor quality,” captured by surveillance cameras and the smartphones of the chain’s employees. Rite Aid then cross-referenced this database with video surveillance of certain branches, using facial recognition to detect suspicious customers.
Clients put in humiliating situations.
The agency’s investigation showed that the software was “more likely to generate poor matches in stores located in neighborhoods with high African American and Asian representation than in areas with high white populations.”
As part of the agreement with the agency, the Rite Aid group has committed to no longer use facial recognition for surveillance for five years. It also provides for the establishment of safeguards in the event of the use of biometric data to identify people who present a risk.
The company claimed, in particular, that the facial recognition program only affected a small number of pharmacies and that it had been suspended “more than three years ago.” Rite Aid filed for bankruptcy in mid-October, but has continued business since then.
Source: BFM TV
