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Many Americans not aware of being tracked with facial recognition while shopping

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Re: Many Americans not aware of being tracked with facial recognition while shopping

#141

Post by lotsofpulp »

HWR_14 wrote: post #127
lotsofpulp wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I guess the management at those corporations is so bad they do not realize they are driving profits away by spending money to make it feel like a prison. Or management is using tons of experience and data to do what they have to do to stay in business in a 2% profit margin business, inconveniencing customers if they have to in order to prevent losses so they do not have to close the store.

"This decision must be correct because management is making it" is a strange idea. Clearly they make mistakes. And clearly their data may not be sufficiently deep for "the new security measures make people not want to shop here so they stay away"

Of course every decision is not correct, but the previous responses were written as if the purpose of the decisions that management made was to inconvenience or harass people, rather than simply an effort to stay in business.

Re: Many Americans not aware of being tracked with facial recognition while shopping

#142

Post by swiley »

npteljes wrote: post #129
jimmaswell wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My answer is to not worry about it and be glad that these practices lower prices.

They lower prices how you get free email from Google, seemingly a good deal. When in reality email costs as low as 1 EUR/mo to be a long-term viable business.

Email is free if you already have a domain name and a public IP.

Re: Many Americans not aware of being tracked with facial recognition while shopping

#145

Post by standardUser »

titzer wrote: post #134
oramit wrote: post #116

I'm honestly perplexed by the discussion here. Why should I care that a grocery store is using this? They already have camera systems - what is it about feeding that data into a facial recognition algorithm that is so awful? They want to identify who their customers are and already do a good job of it with loyalty cards. I often have to show my ID when I buy beer. I'm in a public place where I have no expectation of…

2025: Why should I care if a grocery has my DNA and fingerprints? They already have facial recognition and a record of everything I ever bought, it's not like they are sharing it with anyone. Also 2025: Why should I care if my gym has facial recognition technology? 2026: Why should I care if a grocery shares my DNA and entire purchase history with my insurance provider? It's not like I'm obese. I go to the gym. 2027:…

All of these concerns can be prevented with effective laws, which most people would agree is a better solution that boycotting the world or wearing elaborate disguises in public (as has been suggested in many other comments here).

Re: Many Americans not aware of being tracked with facial recognition while shopping

#146

Post by emodendroket »

gentleman11 wrote: post #85
lowkey_ wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Weeks later I saw him driving by and rode my bicycle next to him in traffic making a scene while saying nothing that could be construed as a threat. He was a little shaken that time I hope. You tried to subtly threaten and shake up the owner of a local coffee shop, weeks later, as revenge for not entertaining your questions about the features of his security system?

Following somebody on the street is less threatening than filming them for lifelong worldwide tracking and profiling

If you followed one specific person perhaps, but just doing that in your store? Seems like a stretch.

Re: Many Americans not aware of being tracked with facial recognition while shopping

#147

Post by beambot »

reedjosh wrote: post #131

This to me is part of a general trend wherein only those with the awareness and resources required will have privacy. For example, if you do have the funds, send a private shopper. But an even more direct example is skipping the discounts associated with club cards for privacy reasons. This will further entrench the class divide between the wealthy and the rest of us.

Unless your private shopper is paying cash, your privacy is probably still illusive.

Re: Many Americans not aware of being tracked with facial recognition while shopping

#148

Post by oramit »

titzer wrote: post #134
oramit wrote: post #116

I'm honestly perplexed by the discussion here. Why should I care that a grocery store is using this? They already have camera systems - what is it about feeding that data into a facial recognition algorithm that is so awful? They want to identify who their customers are and already do a good job of it with loyalty cards. I often have to show my ID when I buy beer. I'm in a public place where I have no expectation of…

2025: Why should I care if a grocery has my DNA and fingerprints? They already have facial recognition and a record of everything I ever bought, it's not like they are sharing it with anyone. Also 2025: Why should I care if my gym has facial recognition technology? 2026: Why should I care if a grocery shares my DNA and entire purchase history with my insurance provider? It's not like I'm obese. I go to the gym. 2027:…

If i'm reading this right, i see two arguments here.

The first is a slippery slope. They are starting to use facial recognition now and will soon be asking for my DNA and fingerprints. I just don't agree that the slope is slippery. Why would my grocery store care to collect that information? We're talking about grocery store items - the company just wants to know what i'm buying so they can send me ads to buy more stuff. They have no interest in my fingerprints or DNA. This honestly just comes off as paranoid and conspiratorial.

The second argument is more interesting. You fear that different databases (grocery, driving, fitness, etc) will be joined together and deployed against us. I don't think this is an unreasonable fear at all. However, I totally disagree that fighting this on the collection side will be fruitful. The unfortunate conclusion i've come to here is that there is no individual action I can take to stop the collection and collation of all this data. I can limit how much information I share - which I do when necessary - but again, what i'm buying at the grocery store is not the privacy hill worth dying on.

Instead the better way to fight this is with laws. The specific example you brought up is Health insurance discrimination but the problem with your example is that large parts of it are already banned by law: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genetic_Information_Nondiscrim...

The Affordable Care Act added even more limits to what insurers can do to decide on rates.

Re: Many Americans not aware of being tracked with facial recognition while shopping

#149

Post by teawrecks »

swiley wrote: post #142
npteljes wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They lower prices how you get free email from Google, seemingly a good deal. When in reality email costs as low as 1 EUR/mo to be a long-term viable business.

Email is free if you already have a domain name and a public IP.

And maintain/pay for an email server.

Re: Many Americans not aware of being tracked with facial recognition while shopping

#150

Post by cronix »

reedjosh wrote: post #131

This to me is part of a general trend wherein only those with the awareness and resources required will have privacy. For example, if you do have the funds, send a private shopper. But an even more direct example is skipping the discounts associated with club cards for privacy reasons. This will further entrench the class divide between the wealthy and the rest of us.

> But an even more direct example is skipping the discounts associated with club cards for privacy reasons.

Right, but most still pay with a credit/debit card when checking out which gives the cc/bank the same info. At least with a store club card they only know what you purchase in that store/chain, instead of every store.

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