Trial of facial recognition system at Co-op stores sparks alarm among privacy advocates

The retailer says the system can protect workers from assaults by shoplifters

Privacy groups in the UK have expressed concerns over the use of facial recognition system at some stores of grocery chain Southern Co-Op.

The face-based surveillance system, provided by facial recognition start-up Facewatch, is currently installed at 18 shops run by Southern Co-op, according to Wired.

Southern Co-op is a regional co-operative that operates 200 stores in 11 counties in the south of England under the brand name of the national Co-op grocery chain.

The trial of facial recognition system was first disclosed in a blog post published on Facewatch's website by Gareth Lewis, Southern Co-op's loss prevention officer.

Lewis said that they have completed "a successful trial using Facewatch FR in a select number of stores where there is a higher level of crime". He claimed that assaults against store staff have increased by 80 per cent in recent months, the majority of the assaults occurring when the staff approached customers suspected of theft.

According to Lewis, the surveillance system enables stores to create a watchlist of individuals with past record of theft or anti-social behaviour. When an individual on that watchlist enters the store, the system sends a notification to staff.

"It gives our teams time to decide on the best action which is incredibly important. Our teams have been trained to use the app and watch list software," Lewis said.

He added that "all of our customers have been made aware with distinctive signage", and that the system is compliant with GDPR regulations.

The rollout, however, has alarmed privacy advocates who question whether the grocery stores can justify the use of the facial recognition technology under data protection laws.

In an open letter to Southern Co-op, Privacy International (PA) questioned the lawfulness of the surveillance technology in stores.

"We are writing to voice our serious concerns and call for urgent assurances regarding the use of Facewatch facial recognition cameras in your stores," the group says.

"We are concerned that such a deployment at Southern Co-Op stores - even at trial level - could mean that, in order to purchase essential goods, people might be in effect left with no choice but to submit themselves to facial recognition scans."

PA also asked the company to explain whether information collected by the system was being shared with the police.

In recent years, the debate on the use of facial recognition systems has intensified. The technology is not only controversial but has also found to be highly inaccurate in many instances.

In August, the Court of Appeal ruled that some aspects of a police facial recognition programme in Wales were against the law.

In 2018, privacy rights campaigner Big Brother Watch claimed that most of the results generated by automated facial recognition systems used by the police are inaccurate. After making 50 freedom of information requests, the group found that 95 per cent of facial recognition matches provided by the system identified innocent people. In February, seven people were wrongfully apprehended by Met Police during a facial recognition deployment in London's Oxford circus, with Big Brother Watch finding the system to be 86 per cent inaccurate, wrongly flagging innocent members of the public as wanted.

Earlier this week, it was reported that a facial recognition system installed at New York's Lockport City School District misidentifies black women 16 times more often than white men.