A shopper in Cardiff, Byron Long, was falsely accused of theft by a B&M shop using live facial recognition technology. Long, who was stopped and embarrassed in front of customers, was wrongly placed on a watchlist for a theft he did not commit.
After reaching out to Big Brother Watch following this incident, the civil liberties group took his case to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).
Big Brother Watch’s Legal and Policy Officer, Jasleen Chaggar, wrote to the ICO to highlight fresh evidence of data protection breaches by Facewatch and its clients and to raise concerns about the lack of accuracy and measures in place between the companies.
Madeleine Stone, Senior Advocacy Officer at Big Brother Watch, said: “This technology turns shoppers into walking barcodes and makes us a nation of suspects, with devastating consequences for people’s lives when it inevitably makes mistakes”. Stone called for the government to “urgently step in and stop retailers from subjecting shoppers to this Orwellian and discriminatory technology”.
Nation Cymru – Shopper falsely accused following misuse of facial recognition technology