Rite Aid banned from using AI facial recognition (updated)

Rite Aid

19/12/2023 23:35

(Adds company statement in paragraphs 3-4, context about
Reuters investigation)
       WASHINGTON, Dec 19 (Reuters) - Bankrupt U.S. pharmacy
chain Rite Aid will be prohibited from using facial recognition
technology for surveillance purposes for five years to settle
U.S. Federal Trade Commission charges it harmed consumers, the
FTC said on Tuesday.
    Rite Aid deployed artificial intelligence-based facial
recognition technology from 2012 to 2020 in order to identify
shoplifters but the company falsely flagged some consumers as
matching someone who had previously been identified as a
shoplifter, the FTC said.
    Rite Aid in a statement said the agreement with the FTC is
subject to approval by the bankruptcy court overseeing its
insolvency case. 
    "The allegations relate to a facial recognition technology
pilot program the company deployed in a limited number of
stores," the company said. "Rite Aid stopped using the
technology in this small group of stores more than three years
ago, before the FTC’s investigation regarding the Company’s use
of the technology began."
    The FTC’s complaint and ban followed a Reuters investigation
from 2020 into Rite Aid’s facial recognition program.
    That investigation found Rite Aid quietly added facial
recognition systems to hundreds of stores in the United States,
and that in New York and Los Angeles, Rite Aid deployed the
technology in largely lower-income, non-white neighborhoods.
    After Reuters sent its findings to Rite Aid in July 2020,
Rite Aid said it quit using its facial recognition software. 
    
    
      

 (Reporting by Eric Beech; editing by Rami Ayyub and Stephen
Coates)
 ((eric.beech@thomsonreuters.com; 202-898-8322; Reuters
Messaging: eric.beech.reuters.com@reuters.net))