General Intelligence
Rite Aid’s Secret Facial Recognition System Is the Tip of the Iceberg
A stunning report on the company’s secret facial recognition program shows that banning government use of the technology isn’t enough
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Rite Aid stores have been using facial recognition software on customers in 200 stores, according to a Reuters investigation published this week.
These cameras were rolled out over the course of eight years and reportedly placed in lower-income and predominantly Black and Latinx neighborhoods, according to Reuters. They have also frequently misidentified people of color: A man stopped while shopping at Rite Aid even filed a complaint about algorithmic racial profiling with the California Department of Public Affairs in 2016.
The Reuters story paints a dark picture of an intrusive and flawed technology being developed, tested, and implemented in relative secrecy, and then quietly foisted onto customers in hundreds of locations across the country.
And private facial recognition in the United States doesn’t end with Rite Aid. Walmart uses facial…
