Foodstuffs’ use of facial recognition technology ‘raises significant privacy and ethical concerns’ - Consumer NZ

Foodstuffs North Island, which owns New World, Pak’nSave and Four Square supermarkets is using ” facial recognition technology (FRT) in 29 of its stores.

Consumer NZ said they are “seriously concerned” that New Zealanders are having their sensitive biometric information collected and analysed while they go about their shopping.

FRT involves the identification of a person based on an analysis of their facial features. Artificial intelligence programs identify and map facial features to create a faceprint, which is compared to those on a database to find a match.

Foodstuffs’ use of FRT was first brought to light in 2018 when it was theorised the technology mistakingly identified a man as being a shoplifter in a Dunedin supermarket.

At the time, Foodstuff’s said the mistake was a “human error”, however, it was later revealed that a “handful” of stores had started using the technology.

A New World branch in Auckland in 2020 was found to be enforcing a policy asking those wearing masks to remove them and put them back on once they were inside, to help combat theft so that the technology could scan their faces.

The policy was redacted soon after due to the intense backlash, but it’s now been revealed they did not stop using the technology altogether.

Consumer NZ chief executive Jon Duffy said he has serious concerns about the use of FRT and the implications that New Zealanders may not be aware of.

“These shoppers may not know it is happening or understand the potential consequences of their data being collected in this way,” Duffy said.

He said is not currently aware of any other major retailers currently using FRT, and questioned why Foodstuffs needs the technology to operate their business effectively.

Foodstuffs North Island CEO Chris Quin said supermarkets are on the frontline of the rising trend of retail crime with its teams dealing with daily incidents of assault, aggression and theft.

“This is the concerning reality for our teams as the number of incidents in grocery stores has risen significantly since early 2020 to record levels this year,” Quin said.

“Facial recognition technology is one of the only tools we’ve identified that could help us to proactively target and reduce theft, burglary, robbery, assault, and other aggressive, violent or threatening behaviour by repeat offenders.”

Quin said retail crime in supermarkets was up 246 per cent since 2020, and he assured the technology will only be used in the stores for this “specific and limited purpose” and that the privacy of customers would be a major priority. The chain would continue to engage with the Office of the Privacy Commissioner about its use.

However, Duffy questions “whether the collection of customers’ biometric data is proportionate to the risk Foodstuffs is trying to address”.

“The use of FRT raises significant privacy and ethical concerns,” Duffy said.

“Aside from our sensitive personal information being captured without our knowledge, we also need to consider how our biometric data is stored once it is collected by a retailer.

“No one is immune from cybercrime and retailers must ensure their security is up to scratch to protect consumers from identity theft.”

Duffy also raised significant issues with the impact of FRT usage on different ethnic groups.

“We’re in the earliest phases of artificial intelligence and there are concerns around the accuracies of these systems, particularly in relation to how accurate it is when applied to certain groups in our society,” Duffy said.

Last year, indigenous data specialist Karaitiana Taiuru raised fears of racial profiling of Māori through the use of FRT, pointing to the US where facial recognition systems have failed to differentiate between black people.

“Those biases usually happen from the engineers who are normally middle class, white males who design a system based on what they consider to be normal — that’s themselves,” Taiuru told 1News last year.

“My fear is that we will have the same issues in New Zealand. Will the system differentiate between one Māori male and another Māori male? Will it differentiate between a male with a full-face tā moko and another male with a full-face tā moko? I don’t believe the system has been trained to do that at this stage,” he said.

Recent research by the Office of the Privacy Commissioner found 49 per cent of adults in New Zealand, increasing to 51 per cent of Māori adults, were concerned about the use of FRT in public spaces.

Duddy believes shoppers deserve to know if their images are being captured as they go about their shopping.

“We know consumers have limited choice where they shop. Consumer NZ questions the validity of using this technology at an essential shopping outlet, like a supermarket,” Duffy said.

Currently, making a request to Foodstuffs under the Privacy Act is the only way to know if your biometric data has been collected during your grocery shop.

A spokesman for the Office of the Privacy Commissioner earlier said supermarkets considering using the technology should undertake a “privacy impact assessment” and urged anyone unhappy about having their face automatically identified to speak up.

Duffy said if consumers are concerned about these practices, they should request any information Foodstuffs North Island holds directly from the company.