In this Reuters investigation ‘Rite Aid deployed facial recognition systems in hundreds of U.S. stores‘, the major problems of deploying this technology massively are exposed. At the end it seems that this pharmacy brand has actually renounced using it for the moment.
The primary intent of this implementation was security and theft prevention. Beyond issues in the information of the public on the application of the technology, it seems that there have been many instances of wrong positive recognition, in particular with minority people of color. In addition the paper adds the links of the technology to China which reflects the fear that facial recognition data may be misused or the system manipulated.
Of course facial recognition software could be used for positive usage such as individualized service, but other technologies would also allow it. The current lack of reliability of the technology, and the fact that it is deployed without the proper guarantee for appeal for wrongly identified people is a concern. This probably calls for a strong regulation how people from the public can access the data and what is done with it.
