With residents this month debating use of facial recognition systems at some Connecticut grocery stores, state lawmakers from both parties plan to look into stopping that technology from being used in the future — or at least strictly regulate what happens to the customer data it produces.
Two prominent Democratic legislators said they expect to introduce a bill outright banning retailers from employing facial recognition equipment in the state, while a senior Republican lawmaker said that he’ll want to ensure businesses aren’t misusing or selling the information they gather about customers.
Some ShopRite’s in Connecticut have posted signs that the technology is in use, including in Canton.
“We’re looking at something where there are probably shared concerns” by both political parties, House Minority Leader Vincent Candelora said. “The concern begins with data privacy, whether this data gets to a third party or is used for marketing.”
Candelora said he wants Connecticut to come up with a comprehensive approach to dealing with AI-related security and marketing systems.
Previously, Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff and state Sen. James Maroney, D-Milford, announced they will introduce legislation in the new session to block retailers from using facial recognition in Connecticut stores.
“Connecticut residents shouldn’t have to worry about giving up information about themselves while grocery shopping,” Duff said in a statement. “Facial recognition technology is highly invasive and poses real risks to privacy and trust.”
At issue is whether retailers and others should be barred from collecting biometric data from customers as they do business. Retailers say they need the system to warn employees when suspected shoplifters are in the store; privacy advocates contend the systems invade privacy and too often send false alerts because they’re using grainy images.
Facial recognition is already in use at 15 U.S. airports, and the TSA announced this week that it will roll out the system to 50 more this year. Its Pre-Check “touchless ID” program lets passengers pass checkpoints using biometric facial recognition instead of traditional paper-based identification.
In addition, numerous sports franchises have begun using facial authentication, saying it vastly speeds up the entrance lines at stadiums. It also reduces staffing.
Fans sign up in advance by uploading ticket information and a selfie; on game day, they skip the traditional ticket-check line and simply walk past cameras that verify they are valid ticket-holders.
In the retail world, the focus is more on security. Privacy advocates are concerned that businesses could sell the data they gather, and point out that the systems themselves are far from infallible.
The RiteAid pharmacy chain admitted in 2023 that it had employed the technology in hundreds of its stores between 2012 and 2020.
The company conceded it hadn’t alerted customers, and the Federal Trade Commission determined that the chain had used the technology “recklessly,” with customers periodically being misidentified as shoplifters.
RiteAid’s system scanned the faces of customers and then compared the images against its database of people it didn’t want in its stores. That database included shoplifters, suspected shoplifters or other patrons RiteAid suspected of trying to commit crimes in its stores previously.
But the FTC said Rite Aid’s data contractor regularly used low-quality images captured from the pharmacies’ closed-circuit cameras, even though those were often grainy and could lead to misidentifications later on.
“Rite Aid’s facial recognition technology generated thousands of false-positive matches — that is, alerts that incorrectly indicated that a consumer was a ‘match’ (for someone in its database of individuals suspected or accused of wrongdoing),” the FTC said.
The FTC also said data was being stored insecurely, and RiteAid signed an agreement not to use the technology for five years.
This month, controversy arose over the Wegmans supermarket chain using facial recognition systems.
Last week, news reports noted that ShopRite outlets in Connecticut have signs posted near their entryway advising customers that facial recognition is in use.
Social media debates have been going on ever since, with some posts defending the need to crack down on serial shoplifters while others condemn the stores for privacy invasion.
ShopRite contends it shares images only with its store employees and its software provider, and purges data after 90 days.