Pharmacy Chain Deploys Facial Recognition Systems in Its Stores

Pharmacy Chain Deploys Facial Recognition Systems in Its Stores
Short Title	Rite Aid Deployed Facial Recognition Systems in Hundreds of U.S. Stores
Location	United States
Date	July 2020
Solove Harm	Surveillance, Identification, Increased Accessibility
Information	Behavioral, Physical Characteristics
Threat Actors	Rite Aid, DeepCam AI
Individuals
Affected	Rite Aid customers
High Risk Groups	Ethnic Minority
Tangible Harms

Pharmacy Chain Rite Aid installed security cameras with state-of-the-art facial recognition technology built in.

Description

Pharmacy chain Rite Aid deployed DeepCam security cameras with facial recognition system in about 200 stores all over the United States. ^Surveillance The technology makes photos and videos more readily searchable, allowing retailers almost instantaneous facial comparisons within and across stores.^{Identification}

In New York and Los Angeles the technology was found to be installed in the shops that are in largely lower-income, non-white neighbourhoods.

The retailer used state-of-the-art facial recognition technology from a company with links to China and its authoritarian government. However, there was no evidence found that Rite Aid’s data was sent to China.^{Increased Accessibility}

Rite Aid told the media in a February 2020 statement that customers had been apprised of the technology through “signage” at the shops, as well as in a written policy posted this year on its website. Reporters found no notice of the surveillance in more than a third of the stores they visited with the facial recognition cameras.

Sources

https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/usa-riteaid-software/