Wegmans is using facial-recognition cameras in some stores to identify people flagged for misconduct. Cybersecurity expert Robert Siciliano warns the technology raises privacy concerns: false positives, irreversible biometric data, and weak security requirements. New York City requires stores to post surveillance notices but doesn't mandate disclosure of facial recognition.
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Before you even grab a cart, you may be greeted by signs warning that biometric data, including facial recognition, may be used inside the store. They are recording everybody over there for security purposes. How do you feel about that?
Inside the Wegmans? Yeah, yeah, they have biometric data that they collect on everybody who walks through.
I'm just buying milk, so that's where it is. Wegmans says this technology is limited and focused on safety. In a statement, the company says in part, "In a small fraction of our stores that exhibit an elevated risk, we have deployed cameras equipped with facial recognition technology. This technology is solely used for keeping our stores secure and safe." Wegman says the system is only used to identify people who have previously been flagged for misconduct, and that facial recognition is just one investigative lead, not the only factor in decisions.
False positives are an actual thing. And so if that was to happen, um, even if it's a bad actor that they pick up on camera, the processes, the procedures, the protocol isn't to just like run up to them and tackle them. You know, their, their, their, their idea is to gently remove them from the premise.
Cybersecurity expert Robert Siciliano says facial recognition goes beyond ordinary security cameras. Instead of just recording video, The technology analyzes your face and compares it to images stored in a database, and that difference, he says, is where the privacy concerns begin.
It is your fingerprinting, it is your facial recognition, it's voice recognition. It is actually you. A credit card is separate and apart from you. Account numbers are separate and apart from you. Even your name is separate and apart from you. Your actual biometrics are, in fact, you.
In New York City, when you walk into a retail store, if they're collecting surveillance footage, they're required to post a sign to inform you, but they're not required to let you know they're using facial recognition technology or to give you a way to opt out.
But some people don't mind that. There's nobody who, you know, is interested in recognizing my face, so I guess I'm not worried about it.
So even with limits in place, experts say biometric data deserves extra security because once it's collected, You can't reset it the way you do a password. In Lower Manhattan, Duarte Geraldino, Fox 5 News.
