No Shirt, No Shoes, No Facescan, No Service: Welcome To 21st Century Convenience Store Shopping
from the say-cheese-snacks dept
Developers of facial recognition software and their customers are finding new and uninventive ways to use unproven tech to keep people out of places. Law enforcement just wants to watch everyone who’s out in the open and strays too close to the right cameras. Security agencies just want to watch everyone leaving or entering the country.
Private businesses, on the other hand, want to limit their interactions with certain people. Landlords are replacing keys/locks with cameras and phone apps. Retailers are implementing facial recognition tech to create digital barriers to entry. Given the tech’s error rate, the chance of misidentifying someone as a shoplifter is omnipresent, leaving would-be shoppers in the awkward position of attempting to prove a negative just for the opportunity to give a retailer money.
Large retailers have already played around with the tech, but it’s now finding a new home at the smaller end of the retail spectrum. The Seattle Times reports a convenience store chain is kicking the facerec tires.
Jacksons Food Store customer Denise Diharce was surprised to learn that the Tacoma location she frequents for odds and ends is testing a high-tech system that, prior to entry, will compare her to images of previous crime suspects.
Before patrons can enter the basic convenience store at the corner of South 38th Street and Pacific Avenue, a camera under a red awning will take a picture and use artificial intelligence (AI) to decide whether the image matches any in a database of known robbers and shoplifters at that location.
This was during the chain’s test run. But it’s moving forward with full deployment, seeking to have the systems run during night hours to keep criminals out of its stores. When the system is on, customers will be informed of the system’s use — something they will have a hard time not noticing when a speaker asks them to stand still and point their faces in the direction of the camera.
The system used by the convenience store chain is very much DIY, which probably keeps it at an affordable price point. There’s no link to existing criminal databases. Every undesirable member of the public must be hand-flagged by store staff to be added to the database. Limiting the number of faces in the database should help decrease both false positives and false negatives — something that’s a commonly-observed problem with larger deployments linked to much bigger databases composed of both criminal and non-criminal face photos.
In isolation, this use may seem justified. Convenience stores tend to get robbed more frequently than other retailers and anything that adds a bit of safety for employees is probably a good thing. But it can’t be viewed in isolation — not when government agencies at all levels are snapping up facial recognition software from a handful of vendors who are creating massive databases of photos for use by almost anyone — public or private — that can afford to purchase the tech.
The steady creep of surveillance tech makes people more accepting of even more serious encroachments on their privacy — or just their ability to move around in public without being “noticed” by dozens of cameras linked to dozens of databases.
Filed Under: convenience stores, crime, facial recognition, law enforcement, privacy, shoplifting
Comments on “No Shirt, No Shoes, No Facescan, No Service: Welcome To 21st Century Convenience Store Shopping”
One More reason to Avoid Brick-&-Mortar Shopping
"Convenience stores tend to get robbed more frequently than other retailers and anything that adds a bit of safety for employees is probably a good thing."
Maybe, but as soon as a Kwik-E-Mart becomes a Slow-E-Mart, employee safety will take a back seat to profits.
Re: One More reason to Avoid Brick-&-Mortar Shopping
Amazon Fresh FTW.
Thank god that no two people look alike!
Just waiting for the ‘nothing to hide, nothing to fear’ crowd to pile on…
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Its not illegal to dress like a clown and the bulbous red nose should blow a fuse on those scanners!
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At least until you’re the second clown who tries it after the first robs the place.
Re: Re: A sudden surge in Groucho glasses sales
I want to see this turn into a parade of anonymity disguises. I’d hope that our society has developed enough awareness to be privacy-minded, at least more so than they were after the Snowden revelations.
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Try that in a bank, take videos and then post them for all us.
Re: Re: Re: Thanks sharing this wonderful post.
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That sounds rather inconvenient.
Re: The Steady Creep...
— "The steady creep of surveillance tech makes people more accepting of even more serious encroachments…"
yeah, the Federal government has steadily increased mass surveillance of the American populace in its futile "Drug War" and endless "War on Terror".
Bill of Rights has been shredded in pursuit of those windmills.
Private sector is just exploiting the government’s destruction of personal rights.
The 4th Amendment does not exist now at U.S. airports and borders. Most all Americans see no problem with that. (serf mentality)
Facial Recognition tech systems are trivial affronts when the government routinely stops and searches travelers with zero probable cause.
Private sports events & music concerts have followed that lead and also routinely search their customers as they enter.
Won’t be long before McDonald’s & BestBuy customers are subjected to hands-on pat-downs as they enter.
Re: Re: The Steady Creep...
When McDonalds starts patdowns that will be the end of Ronald McDonald.
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Must you dump on everything we do?
Relax! It’s just biblical prophecy coming to pass.
Revelation 13:16-18
Technology is doing a Naruto run towards ever increasing surveillance and ever eroding privacy, yet plenty still refuse to believe that Jesus Christ is THE way.
We all have been created with free will to do, and believe, whatever we want, but none of us will escape hell without Jesus Christ.
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It is amazing how little there is in support of your allegations.
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If he had to look at evidence to support his beliefs, he wouldn’t be a religious nut to begin with.
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It’s worse than that.
Its seems religion is a victim here too.
The source he refenced… suggests pretty terrible things (even though it suggests they wont happen to everyone). It provides no reason to ‘relax’ and infact calls for the opposite.
AKA he’s just a nut (regardless of if you believe, or not)
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I think this is the first time I’ve seen Revelation combined with Naruto. Please make it the last.
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We all use faith quite often.
Do you fully examine each chair before you sit in it to ensure that it’s correctly built? Did you even oversee it’s construction?
If so…you’re paranoid; if not…you used faith.
Do you know exactly how your car works when you put your key into the ignition and turn it?
If so…you’re an engineer; if not you used faith.
Do you have a brain in your head? Prove it.
Were you actually born on your supposed birth date? Prove it.
*Radio waves…? Can you sense them with any of your senses? No, yet you believe that they exist.
We all believe in something.
I’m not trying to force anyone here to believe anything; I can’t — no one can force anyone to do anything. The closest anyone can come to forcing someone else to do something is by threatening to harm someone if they don’t do what you tell them to do. Of course, this is the WRONG thing to do, and in fact, the person that is threatened can still refuse because we all have free will.
I have no physical proof whatsoever that accepting Jesus Christ is the only way to heaven AND that rejecting Jesus Christ is the only way to hell, but I believe the the Holy Bible to be true.
Take it or leave it, but it’s still a question that we all must answer.
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"Do you fully examine each chair before you sit in it to ensure that it’s correctly built? Did you even oversee it’s construction?
If so…you’re paranoid; if not…you used faith."
That is ridiculous. I have several chairs that I purchased some time ago. They are sturdy by design and I do not need to verify this fact each and every time I use said chair. This is not what I thought the word faith meant within a religious context … although I could have been wrong all along but I doubt it.
False dichotomy.
Re: Re: Re:2 Faith in religious content
Faith comes from fidis as in fidelity or Semper Fi! which is a pledge of loyalty. Essentially the Church asks for the same sort of allegiance that a liege lord asks of his vassals, that a nation asks of its soldiers.
This is to say you don’t have to believe its principles, just obey.
Re: Re: Re:2 Re:
A man flying in a hot air balloon suddenly realizes he’s lost.
He reduces height and spots a man down below. He lowers the balloon further and shouts to get directions, "Excuse me, can you tell me where I am?"
The man below says: "Yes. You’re in a hot air balloon, hovering 30 feet above this field."
"You must work in Information Technology," says the balloonist.
"I do" replies the man. "How did you know?"
"Well," says the balloonist, "everything you have told me is technically correct, but It’s of no use to anyone."
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Speaking of radio waves, yes I can feel some of them,but you go and do not be discouraged by people who can’t understand who they are. That has been a huge problem on earth.
Re: None of us will escape Hell
Jesus Christ was not big into elitism, and the join us or suffer God’s wrath nonsense got reinserted after the resurrection because people want to be part of the special members-only club, and join up quicker at proverbial swordpoint. Even faster at literal swordpoint which would come later.
But then those who profess Hellfire and brimstone have to confront the consequence of 100,000,000,000 souls languishing in the Hell of the Damned while only 2,000,000,000 at most (assuming the Roman Catholic Church is the One True Church) go to heaven.
According to the majority of Christian denominations, it’s not Jesus who gets you in to heaven, but belonging to the right Chruch of Jesus. All the other faiths (40,000 recognized denominations not including the non-denominational churches) are false churches founded by Satan and worship false Jesuses Extra Eccesliam nulla salus!
Out of the six pre-Constantine Christian sects, four believed in universalism (hence the Good News). One sect didn’t recognize an afterlife, and one sect adopted the divine justice heaven/hell model. But Constantine was Apollonian and believed people were destined to Tartarus or Elysium after they died.
This is before we get to the conflict between immortal human souls and quantum dynamics, and the nearly absolute likelihood that only oblivion awaits us all.
Re: Re: None of us will escape Hell
Don’t rule out the possibility that maybe you will come to understand the simple beautiful forgiveness of the true living God.
Re: Re: Re: None of us will escape Hell
If you listen to the various religious outfits, each and every one of them is the true religion and many of its leaders want you to think they are the true living god.
Re: Re: Re: The beautiful forgiveness of [a] true living [god.]
There’s also a nonzero chance that like Buddha, I will find enlightenment in observing a dog drink from a stream.
I’m sure I wouldn’t buy into a god that feels the need to forgive me, or whose church threatens pre-recruits with eternal Hellfire. I am familiar with advertising and know how shakedowns work.
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What is this religious nutcase doing here? This is NOT the place for preachers!
Re: Re: Not the place for preachers
Meh. At least he’s not one of the usual Pro-police-state / IP-maximalist / Offended-trump-supporter trolls we typically get who complain that this is supposed to be a tech-editorial-site.
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Bastet is the one true god and she’s mighty pissed at you right now.
I doubt the convenience store chain provides adequate protection for their minimum wage employees, as most do not. Management can not afford to install a proper bullet proof glass enclosure but they can afford to install an automated facial recognition system? I suspect that it is a free introductory offer made by the marketing dept of whatever facial recognition corporation. Why not just automate the clerk?
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Bullet-proof glass would help stop robberies while making shoplifting easier (if the clerk came out of the enclosure to stop a shoplifter, then the shoplifter could rob/assault them).
Other options are limiting employee access to cash (via cash-handling machines, timelocks, debit/credit-only hours, etc.) and customer access to merchandise (automation, as you said).
For some things sold in convenience stores, like cigarettes and alcohol, there are regulatory difficulties—although other countries have solved them. For things like eggs and milk, people may want to check quality and expiry dates ahead of time; it can perhaps be solved with proper machine design. You’re probably right that automation is the way this is heading.
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I see your point … business considers their property to be more important than those it employs, and they do not think they have any responsibilities for the well being of same employees while they are working for the business. This would explain their actions.
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Like Johnny Cab!
"How did I get here?"
"The door opened, and you got in!"
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Maybe it’s a jurisdiction like Philadelphia where the ‘progressive’ lawmakers have outlawed bullet-resistant glass (no such thing as bullet-proof glass) or other barriers between staff and customers because protective barriers offend the community’s dignity or something like that.
https://www.foxnews.com/us/philadelphia-city-council-approves-bill-to-remove-bulletproof-glass-from-storefronts
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Speaking as somebody who can still enter my local bank and make cash transactions with staff with no physical barrier between us (unless you count a standard office desk), they’re actually right. People shouldn’t have to make their living in a box, and it’s demeaning to a community that it’s felt that they require that. Openness makes a real difference.
Now, there’s obviously issues in Philadelphia that led to people thinking such glass is necessary in the first place and it’s probably a questionable decision to remove the glass before those issues have been resolved. But, the idea that it’s more dignified not to have to shield store staff from the people they serve is correct.
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It’s the people in the boxes who opposed the law. They like the boxes. They claimed (with good reason) that it would make them less safe, especially working late at night in high crime neighborhoods. Not to mention, taking away the protection of the barriers only incentivizes the store owners and employees to buy guns to protect themselves, which only increases the chance of bloodshed.
The whole thing is absurd. The government requiring people to put themselves in danger to assuage the PC feelz of city bureaucrats? The city council members and their families should be required to work a few overnight shifts at a store in one of those war zones. Bet they wouldn’t mind the plexiglas then.
Same thing with ballistic clothing. Many jurisdiction outlaw the wearing of a ballistic vest or other clothing by anyone other than police. If you’re stuck living in one of these ‘progressive’ hellholes, where bodies are dropping like flies, the government tells you that not only are you forbidden from owning and carrying a gun to defend yourself, you don’t have any right to take even passive measures to protect your life, like wearing a ballistic vest under your clothes, or wearing a ballistic jacket.
Re: Re: Re:2 "war zones"
What are the robbery and robbery-related assault rates in these war zones. Their existence (and elevated rates) would indicate local precincts are not doing their jobs. Does it correlate with hightened levels of police abuse, of destitution and hunger? Are there street gangs? Is drug trade, possession and use at elevated rates in the district?
Bulletproof glass cashier cubicles (and for that matter, facial recognition gates) don’t exist in a vacuum. And neither does the crime risk that encourages such devices. But the way that other districts approach the matter is to make it less of a war zone, since the things that prey on corner stores also prey on children. If your district is concerned about crime to put clerks in bulletproof booths or install facial recognition, then it has enough of a problem to warrant soup kitchens and sports-not-gangs programs. Where the heck are they?
Is this one of the towns that went bankrupt and only private security contractors now patrol the streets and charge by the minute for each incident?
Re: Re: Re:3 "war zones"
How is any of that relevant to whether I, as a citizen, have a right to protect my own life by working behind a barrier (on private property, remember) and/or wearing protective clothing?
It’s Philadelphia. I have no idea whether they’re bankrupt or not.
Re: Re: Re:4 "a right to protect my own life"
Very little. But you don’t feel the need to walk crosswalks wearing impact armor. You don’t feel the need to mount an autocannon on your sedan to deter marauders or reckless drivers. You don’t feel the need to wear full SCUBA gear when swimming at the community swimming pool.
You have a right to work behind a barrier, but it speaks to hazard risk that you feel you should work behind a barrier. Just as it would speak to the fire hazard of a building that its occupants routinely wear fire proximity suits while going about their business. We’d find it odd.
So, too, we find it odd when people go around open-carrying firearms, which implies they feel at considerable risk of falling into a situation in which a firearm might be needed, (maybe, a snake infestation?)
Now, I agree that banning barriers and clothing (or open carry, for that matter) is the wrong way to address the problem. Rather the municipal government should confront the reasons people are afraid enough to want to work behind barriers.
People should be less afraid of going to work than they are of doing intentionally risky things like playing sports, going swimming or hiking up a mountain.
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"It’s the people in the boxes who opposed the law"
Again, like I said – they should be getting the causes of the boxes fixed before removing them. But i.f you think they have more dignity than people who never have to consider a box, you need to travel more.
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No, in a free society, a private property owner should be able to put up a glass screen in his own business if he wants to without the government bigfooting its way in to what is none of its business.
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If you feel your retail staff need to hide behind bulletproof glass in order to do their jobs, you are absolutely not a free society.
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I’d argue it’s actually too free at that point.
And these will be the same retailers bitching about lost sales and blaming the internet for it.
Can you say ‘man in the mirror’?
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Gas station convenience stores are not the ones who typically complain about being undersold by the internet companies.
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True, but in the near future I can avoid these ‘convenience’ stores by calling up my favorite store’s app and orders a few things that will get delivered by automated delivery car or quad-rotor without ever leaving my house.
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Some day you might miss leaving your house and not be able.
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The bigger question is, can you sing it?
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Only if you can ‘beat it’.
A Disney style finger print scanner would have worked better in this case.
Lets hope people avoid going to this store to hit them were it hurts.
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Why not just take a picture of the proprieter and stick it in front of the camera?
Smile for your mugshot
Why bother hooking it up to a facial recognition system? I would think that just having to show your face to a camera before the door unlocks would deter all but the latest Stupid Criminal of the Week contenders.
I saw you looking at my girlfriend
I’m sure that allowing employees to nominate pictures for the Keep Out database won’t be abused by anyone.
Re: I saw you looking at my girlfriend
Better yet, let the customers choose who is allowed to enter. They could use the gas station convenience store app to discriminate against whom ever they dislike today. It could be a boon for business in certain locales, the ones where bigots congregate.
Re: Re: I saw you looking at my girlfriend
Maybe a membership card key will be next. If your face doesn’t match the card key photo, you can’t do business there.
Re: Re: Re: I saw you looking at my girlfriend
Double doors that lock behind you eliminating flash mobs from entering store, but that will put customers at risk maybe.
Shoplifters not prosecuted? Better just to keep them out
Seattle is one of those progressive jurisdictions that do not prosecute shoplifting. Since collecting evidence against repeat-shoplifters is a waste of time, it makes more sense just to keep them out of the store.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpAi70WWBlw
Wait for it...
PROOF,
that you are the correct person using that credit/debit card..
With all the lost data in the last 10 years…
They cant prove who/what//… that is using the cards.
REALLY.
this is going to force Companies and corps to install Cameras and facial ID, and link to the CC/banks/Public records/Police/state ID… to SHOw you are the one.. and then add to this, Everyone gets a CC/bank card..
In retail, long ago and seldom NOW…they had your picture on the CC card…LOVE IT.. now they want Other means..
Not long now, and we all get chips..Wonderful to live in a developed country, that lets CORPS rule over most things.. Anyone read Shadowrun??
We have FLASH MOBS these days that rush into stores and to an all-out grab for things. It happens quite often. You have some stores now that are keeping all there products behind locked clear doors. Even things as toothpaste and shampoo. Stores are getting robbed blind and it’s costing them a ton of money, which ends up costing the rest of us more money in higher prices.
I’m all for stores to do what they need to do to stop thefts. If you don’t like it, don’t shop there. If you are one of these criminals, I hope you have a harder and harder time of finding a place to steal anything, let alone buy anything.
I wouldn’t let a thief inside my business either if I could help stop it from happening. Slowing people down to get a real face scan of them before they go in, also would help with flash mobs.
Here’s an example, steaming $30,000 worth of product from North Face Outlet. Oh look, they’re all black.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=StEoCK8TRsU
Just go to youtube and enter in the search "flash mob stealing".
Inevitable
Here’s the problem with all of these DIY systems… they won’t be used by just the places that install and operate them… … nope, just wait until we start seeing warrants that suck up the data in these systems…
I’m sure someone else can explain this far better than I could… and even come up with why it’s far more frightening than I imagine.
Re: Inevitable
Eventially there will be chip implants in everyone who wants to do any commerce, receive medical care or rent an apartment, drive a vehicle or walk down the street.
Re: Re: Inevitable
In many cases where chips have been implanted into pets, the pets developed tumors around the chip – some were benign, some were not.
Re: Re: Chip implants
The legal system is not to be trusted, and for this reason our constitutional framers recognized anonymity as a part of privacy. Even in this age of the ongoing War on Terror, voter ID laws and new technologies to track people (I’m looking at you ALPR) remain controversial and contrary to American principles.
This is to say, if we mandate chip implants to engage in daily functions, counterfeit chips, secondary chips, reprogrammable chips will quickly enter the black market to restore anonymity for those who need it to operate outside the sight of the state.
There may come a time when chipping people is beneficial to the public and not just the state and we have devised ways to discourage corruption or abuse of the system. But until then, I expect it would be quickly subverted, and only provide state officials an illusion they know where everyone is and what they’re doing.
You can get shirts, shoes, face scans at one place in Dollar General stores. It is possible to win $100 if we take the Dg customer feedback survey on https://dgcustomerfirst-com.com/. We all know that dollar general is the third-largest retail store in the USA.