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From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.<\/p>\n
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.<\/p>\n
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.<\/p>\n
Your support makes all the difference.<\/strong><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nRead more<\/span><\/svg><\/span><\/button><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nWegmans is now using facial scanners to collect and store biometric data from grocery store shoppers, sparking privacy concerns among customers.<\/p>\n
The popular supermarket chain quietly rolled out the new surveillance software at stores with an \u201celevated risk\u201d in what they called an effort to increase safety. Despite mandated signs placed at New York City store entrances announcing that the cameras inside scan faces and store information, shoppers are raising alarm bells over the surprise surveillance and dubbing it an invasion of privacy.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy are they watching me?\u201d shopper Deborah Tozzi asked The Independent <\/em>during her grocery run Tuesday morning, adding that she would not have noticed the sign, which is off to the side of the automatic entrance doors. \u201cWhy would they want to look at my face? Where would they send my face? It could end up anywhere, all over the world. Who knows what they\u2019ll put it on.\u201d<\/p>\nA Wegmans spokesperson insisted in a statement that the store never shares the data collected with a third party. The statement went on to say the facial recognition system is only used to identify people who have \u201cpreviously been flagged for misconduct.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cLike many retailers, we use cameras to help identify individuals who pose a risk to our people, customers, or operation,\u201d the retail chain said Monday. While signs at stores say that facial recognition, eye scans, and voiceprints are being collected as data, Wegmans said they have only started implementing face scans.<\/p>\n
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open image in gallery<\/span><\/button><\/p>\n<\/div>Wegmans is now scanning the faces of shoppers in a security crackdown (Getty Images)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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open image in gallery<\/span><\/button><\/p>\n<\/div>Signs outside the Manhattan Wegmans location entrance warn customers that facial recognition software is being used in the store (Carsen Holaday)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\nThe statement continued: \u201cWe do not collect other biometric data such as retinal scans or voice prints. Images and video are retained only as long as necessary for security purposes and then disposed of. For security reasons, we do not disclose the exact retention period, but it aligns with industry standards.\u201d<\/p>\n
In response to worries about bias and discrimination brought on by the new surveillance, Wegmans said the technology is used on a \u201ccase-by-case-basis\u201d and in accordance with decisions by the store\u2019s asset protection team.<\/p>\n
Uber driver Ibrahim Hamagou, who often picks up groceries at Wegmans, said he expects the software to catch more casual shoplifters, noting to The Independent<\/em>, \u201cA lot of people steal. A lot of people feel like they can get away with whatever they want to do… Now they know these things will catch them. <\/p>\n\u201cIt\u2019s protecting more than it is gathering information.\u201d<\/p>\n
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open image in gallery<\/span><\/button><\/p>\n<\/div>Wegmans said it only uses facial recognition data to identify people who might pose a safety risk to their stores (Carsen Holaday)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\nOther shoppers were unaware of the biometric surveillance, but were unsurprised due to the rising popularity of similar technology in places like convenience stores, airports, and even concert venues.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s happening in so many places that it\u2019s hard to get worked up about it at this point,\u201d customer Sam Federman told The Independent<\/em>. \u201cEveryone\u2019s doing it.\u201d<\/p>\nShopper Charles Gepp agreed that nothing surprises him anymore: \u201cI think it\u2019s part of this whole new thing that we have unleashed. We have absolutely no idea where it\u2019s going, but we are being observed everywhere. There\u2019s cameras on the streets, on the bus, in the taxi, from people with phones.\u201d Gepp added that customers who are opposed to it should simply choose another place to shop, especially in a metropolis with local options. <\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think it ultimately really affects where I shop, but I think it will affect how I behave. I think I\u2019m going to stop stealing the odd jalape\u00f1o,\u201d he joked.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging. At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story. The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it. Your support makes all the difference. Read more Wegmans is now using facial scanners to collect and store biometric data from grocery store shoppers, sparking privacy concerns among customers. The popular supermarket chain quietly rolled out the new surveillance software at stores with an \u201celevated risk\u201d in what they called an effort to increase safety. Despite mandated signs placed at New York City store entrances announcing that the cameras inside scan faces and store information, shoppers are raising alarm bells over the surprise surveillance and dubbing it an invasion of privacy. \u201cWhy are they watching me?\u201d shopper Deborah Tozzi asked The Independent during her grocery run Tuesday morning, adding that she would not have noticed the sign, which is off to the side of the automatic entrance doors. \u201cWhy would they want to look at my face? Where would they send my face? It could end up anywhere, all over the world. Who knows what they\u2019ll put it on.\u201d A Wegmans spokesperson insisted in a statement that the store never shares the data collected with a third party. The…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10415,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2],"tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10414"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10414"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10414\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/10415"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10414"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10414"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10414"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}