Britain urged to ban facial recognition in shops

Rights groups have appealed to the UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) to ban facial recognition of shoppers in supermarkets in southern England. Reuters reports.

According to the Big Brother Watch group, Southern Co-operative operates scanners in 35 stores across ten towns. The system builds a biometric profile of each visitor, enabling the retailer to compile a ‘blacklist’ of customers. If one of them enters the store, staff receive a notification.

Rights groups called the system ‘Orwellian to the highest degree’ and urged the ICO to investigate whether this violates data-protection laws.

“Our legal complaint to the Information Commissioner is a vital step in protecting the privacy rights of thousands of people who have suffered from this dangerously intrusive private spying,” said Silkie Carlo, director of Big Brother Watch.

Southern Co-operative, which operates fewer than 200 stores, said it welcomed constructive feedback from the ICO.

“We take our duties around the use of facial recognition very seriously and are making every effort to balance the rights of our customers with the need to protect our staff and shoppers from unacceptable breaches and abuses,” the company said.

A retailer spokesperson added that the biometric identification system is used only in stores with a high level of crime. The need for its installation was explained as a way to protect staff from known offenders.

According to the statement, the database does not store images of people not identified as criminals.

“This gives our staff time to decide on any actions they should take, for example, politely asking them to leave the premises or escalating the incident if this breaches a court order,” the company said.

In October 2021, Fraser Sampson, the government’s surveillance-camera commissioner, urged regulation of the use of biometric identification technology.

In April 2022, the European Commission announced plans to create a giant database for facial recognition to be shared with law enforcement agencies across EU member states.

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