Rite Aid Barred From Using Facial Recognition Technology to Curb Shoplifting

Published on December 20, 2023

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has banned drugstore chain Rite Aid from using facial recognition for surveillance purposes for five years, citing the retailer’s “reckless” use of the technology. In a complaint filed on Dec. 19, the FTC said the retailer deployed AI-based facial recognition technology from 2012 to 2020 to identify shoplifters but did not take “reasonable measures” to prevent harm to consumers. This has resulted in some customers being accused wrongly by Rite Aid’s staff because the technology falsely flagged them as someone who had previously been identified as a shoplifter, according to the complaint. In addition, the FTC alleged that Rite Aid had failed to disclose to consumers its use of the technology within its stores and discouraged its employees from disclosing this information....

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