Facial recognition – in the service of price gouging? While both would be serious problems, framing the first as mostly “problematic” in terms of the other looks truly like an example of “burying the lede.”
The “lede” concerning facial recognition tech deployed (or planned to be deployed) in places frequented by huge amounts of people such as retail chains like Kroger in the US is – number one (two, and three) – mass surveillance and possible (if not likely) short, mid, and long-term consequences on by and large unsuspecting shoppers’ digital security and privacy.
And that means everyone’s privacy, security – and constitutional rights.
Yet, here we have one of the supposedly “most progressive” US House of Representative Democrats – Rashida Tlaib – complaining about Kroger’s facial recognition as a tool for surge pricing, not least, according to her, in the context of “studies (that have) shown that facial recognition is flawed and can lead to discrimination in predominantly Black and brown communities.”
We obtained a copy of the letter for you here.
It might also be a (clever, or otherwise) intent to keep the focus away from the inflation that’s plagued the US, and affected the general standard of living these last years.
Kroger did itself no favors by teaming up with Microsoft and its cameras to use EDGE (Enhanced Display for Grocery Environment) “smart shelves,” as well as Electronic Shelf Labels (ESLs), which are supposed to enable “dynamic price adjustments” and in this way harvest customer data – such as gender and age.
The real story here seems to be a major retail chain monitoring you for those two major personal data points, as you shop, period.
But Congresswoman Tlaib is building on an August letter by fellow Democrats Senators Elizabeth Warren and Bob Casey who were worried about the “potential misuse” of the tech – the existence of this technology in stores in the first place is already misuse, many critics would say.
Many politicians refuse to address the core issue.
Kroger’s response claims it, “(…) does not and has never engaged in ‘surge pricing’. Any test of electronic shelf tags is designed to lower prices for more customers where it matters most. To suggest otherwise is not true.”
