A former police officer Lavinia McIntyre was wrongly identified as a shoplifter by staff at a Budgens shop using facial recognition technology. The 56-year-old, who was told to leave the shop, was outraged by the wrongful accusation.
The use of facial recognition technology has been increasing amongst retailers. Budgens, Sports Direct, Home Bargains and various night clubs and petrol stations use the company Facewatch which provides the surveillance technology.
Jasleen Chaggar, Big Brother Watch’s legal and policy officer, said:
“A former police officer having false criminal accusations levelled against her without any standard of proof or appeals process shows that anyone can find themselves on the wrong side of facial recognition…
“People are often left in the dark about why they’ve been publicly booted out of stores, despite doing nothing wrong.”
“It is a sleight of hand to suggest this makes staff safer, when it pushes them to confront people flagged by opaque algorithms”, Ms Chaggar added.
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