{"id":57110,"date":"2020-07-30T14:13:00","date_gmt":"2020-07-30T14:13:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/icrowdnewswire.com\/?p=2682226"},"modified":"2020-07-30T14:13:00","modified_gmt":"2020-07-30T14:13:00","slug":"rite-aid-used-facial-recognition-in-secret-across-hundreds-of-its-stores","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/ipsnews.net\/business\/2020\/07\/30\/rite-aid-used-facial-recognition-in-secret-across-hundreds-of-its-stores\/","title":{"rendered":"Rite Aid used facial recognition in secret across hundreds of its stores"},"content":{"rendered":"

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<\/span>Illustration by Alex Castro \/ The Verge<\/small><\/p>\n

Drugstore chain Rite Aid secretly deployed facial recognition software across a network of security cameras in hundreds of locations in the US, according to a new investigation from Reuters<\/em> published on Tuesday. <\/em>The company had been doing so for more than eight years, and it only recently stopped using the technology, it told Reuters<\/em>, following a “larger industry conversation” around facial recognition and the grave concern over privacy risks and racial discrimination it presents.<\/p>\n

Yet, Reuters <\/em>says Rite Aid initially defended its use of facial recognition as a deterrent against theft and violent crime, having nothing to do with race. The investigation found that not to be entirely true. “In areas where people of color, including Black or Latino residents, made up the largest racial or ethnic group, Reuters<\/em> found that stores were more than three times as likely to have the technology,” the report reads.<\/p>\n

After presenting its findings to the company, Reuters <\/em>says Rite Aid issued a new statement and said it had turned off its cameras. “This decision was in part based on a larger industry conversation,” Rite Aid said. “Other large technology companies seem to be scaling back or rethinking their efforts around facial recognition given increasing uncertainty around the technology’s utility.”<\/p>\n

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