Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Home Depot sued for 'secretly' using facial recognition at self-checkouts

petapixel.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

191–200 of 627 posts

Re: Home Depot sued for 'secretly' using facial recognition at self-checkouts

#191

Post by Frost1x »

47282847 wrote: post #92

I make it a point not to use self-checkout systems because I want to support human interaction even if basic, and contribute to jobs for humans. And cash (most self-checkouts here are card-only). I understand it’s a losing battle on all fronts.

Yea, where’s the theft of my time and labor for now performing part of your business transaction process you should be performing by hiring staff to check me out.

You don’t want to pay people to do that and put yourself in a higher theft situation, then you haggle the customer even more by treating them like a criminal.

I had one of these happen at a self checkout the other day where the system did object tracking and it turns out I had many duplicate items to scan so I used the same item scan code to save time even though its weight system forces me to do one at a time I can at least have a prealigned code handy. I ended up doing some tricky hand switching between items (crossing over) while doing it quickly and that tripped up the object tracking system, so an employee came over and reviewed the video of my checkout right in front of me… at a grocery store for a $2 item.

The anti consumer sentiment is high for an economy based so highly off consumerism.

Re: Home Depot sued for 'secretly' using facial recognition at self-checkouts

#192

Post by 9cb14c1ec0 »

closewith wrote: post #183
9cb14c1ec0 wrote: post #180

Earlier quoted context omitted.

High trust societies can only exist when there are consequences for things like theft.

All examples of high trust societies show that those consequences must be social, because _by definition_, in a high-trust society, you must trust other people to do the right thing. A punitive dictatorship or police state is not a high-trust society, even though laws may be strictly enforced. Likewise, in a high-trust society, behaviour is expected to be good and moral, even where not mandated by law.

And there-in lies the problem of modern society. There are no social consequences. The decline of religion and family with no suitable replacement has left most people without a peer group to exert these social consequences.

Re: Home Depot sued for 'secretly' using facial recognition at self-checkouts

#193

Post by c22 »

UltraSane wrote: post #190
c22 wrote: post #188

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is not an exclusive feature of self-checkout. I have shopped at many places where one line is fed into an array of human cashiers.

What store? I have not seen a single store with this setup.

I see it most often at independant or franchise retailers. Places where providing a pleasant customer experience still seems to have an impact on their bottom line.

Re: Home Depot sued for 'secretly' using facial recognition at self-checkouts

#194

Post by hopelite »

4ggr0 wrote: post #145
benchly wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Appreciate the story, but what's the hangup about naming these companies? It's not really a secret that retail LP generally abuses their role across the board and allows prejudace to run rampant in its ranks, giving that it is almost entirely comprised of people from backgrounds that lack any higher education and recieved a few months training at best to do what they do. Heck, step in any active American mall and you…

> I was repeatedly told to target black women not that i'm that surprised, but still shocking to read such things in 2025.

[flagged]

Re: Home Depot sued for 'secretly' using facial recognition at self-checkouts

#195

Post by amanaplanacanal »

fercircularbuf wrote: post #165
kjkjadksj wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The shoplifters don’t care. Look at any hardware section at homedepot. Half the bags are ripped open. Try and find some stock they say is there online. Its not it already got stolen. The registers is not where they need to be combatting theft. It is everywhere else in that store.

As someone living in Japan, the sheer number of instances of theft in your description shocks me. Is this that common there?

That is certainly not my experience in the stores I go to.

Re: Home Depot sued for 'secretly' using facial recognition at self-checkouts

#196

Post by apt-apt-apt-apt »

npteljes wrote: post #119
bgwalter wrote: post #12

Don't use self-checkouts. You do all the work, slower than the cashier, and are treated like cattle. Often there is a supervisor breathing down your neck and demanding the receipt before the exit doors open. Now there is facial recognition.

What do you mean "all the work"? Grocery shopping is preparation, logistics, actually to the place(s), handling the items from shelf to cart, cart to register, checking and paying at register, move from register to own container, container to vehicle, vehicle to home, unpack at home. Of all of this hassle, the cashier merely handles a single step. You already do all the work. I'm not sure what you mean by "treated li…

Try unloading an entire cart and scanning each one individually and putting it back, after spending a tiring hour shopping. I will be very surprised if you still feel the same.

Re: Home Depot sued for 'secretly' using facial recognition at self-checkouts

#197

Post by blitzar »

Ekaros wrote: post #56
AngryData wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Im not sure we should allow such premeditated charge stacking, it is just further weaponizing the law and fueling our prison industrial complex for zero gain to society. Who is to say many of those people wouldn't have stopped after being caught and charged the first time? Imagine if cops sat on the side of the road not pulling people over, just recording minor traffic offenses in a file, and then a year or so later…

Seems like proper punishment is only way to get deterrent effect. Or the courts to do their job. So to me this sounds like workable way, stack up the habitual offenders and send them to jail for a few months to few years setting them on straight path.

cut off their hands as a punishment

Re: Home Depot sued for 'secretly' using facial recognition at self-checkouts

#198

Post by cnity »

9cb14c1ec0 wrote: post #192
closewith wrote: post #183

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All examples of high trust societies show that those consequences must be social, because _by definition_, in a high-trust society, you must trust other people to do the right thing. A punitive dictatorship or police state is not a high-trust society, even though laws may be strictly enforced. Likewise, in a high-trust society, behaviour is expected to be good and moral, even where not mandated by law.

And there-in lies the problem of modern society. There are no social consequences. The decline of religion and family with no suitable replacement has left most people without a peer group to exert these social consequences.

A lot of HN readers would get a lot out of watching more Star Trek: TNG.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Justice_(Star_Trek:_The_Next_G...

Re: Home Depot sued for 'secretly' using facial recognition at self-checkouts

#199

Post by npteljes »

apt-apt-apt-apt wrote: post #196
npteljes wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What do you mean "all the work"? Grocery shopping is preparation, logistics, actually to the place(s), handling the items from shelf to cart, cart to register, checking and paying at register, move from register to own container, container to vehicle, vehicle to home, unpack at home. Of all of this hassle, the cashier merely handles a single step. You already do all the work. I'm not sure what you mean by "treated li…

Try unloading an entire cart and scanning each one individually and putting it back, after spending a tiring hour shopping. I will be very surprised if you still feel the same.

Do you not do the same with a cashier?

(This is getting tangential, but I do exactly what you describe, and I really appreciate that I can do it on my terms, without having to accommodate three other people: the one in front of me, the cashier, and the one next in line.)

Re: Home Depot sued for 'secretly' using facial recognition at self-checkouts

#200

Post by cnity »

bko wrote: post #181
closewith wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Put the criminals in prison. Do it often enough, and shoplifting ceases to be a problem of plague-like proportions. Big fan of accountability and immediate personal consequences and enforcing the law. This just doesn't work. A high-trust society cannot be built by force. > I am fatigued of the suicidal and deleterious empathy of those in charge who refuse to take second-order effects into account. The irony here is…

What do you mean "this just doesn't work"? You do understand that an overwhelming majority of crime and overall anti social behavior is done by a tiny percentage of people. Remove those people and you spare the rest of us. For instance, the number of prisoners that have had 15 or more prior arrests is over 26%. You can just have a 15 strikes and you're out policy and make a huge impact. Once these bad actors are out…

A policeman's job is only easy in a police state.
Post reply on HN