As early as 2013, Walmart and Facebook announced their plans to begin using facial software on everyone.
According to a Fortune.com article, Walmart tested a facial recognition system that scanned the face of everyone entering several of its stores this year. The system would identify people of interest and alert security but it proved too costly.
Chris Calabrese at the Center for Democracy and Technology warns…
“Anywhere that has a camera could end up employing face recognition technology.”
Walmart like many retailers uses Bosch’s Dinion and Flexidome camera systems:
Bosch’s surveillance cameras track customers from the moment they enter the parking lot and throughout the store:
Another Bosch IVA video boasts how operators don’t need to watch all the surveillance footage because their ‘intelligent system’ can identify people, cars and objects.
Fortune magazine asked retailers if they used facial recognition and received a response one would expect from law enforcement.
It’s as though retailers took a page out of lying James Clapper’s NSA handbook, when he claimed they don’t knowingly spy on everyone.
It’s not just retailers that are spying on everyone, public transportation commuters are being spied on billions of times a year.
According to Computer Weekly only 30% of retailers admit to using facial recognition software!