Article about facial recognition at Sainsbury’s East Dulwich store. Is it in use at all Sainsbury’s stores now?
Bell Green was one of the two initial trial stores and although not mentioned by name “initial trials of the facial recognition system across two stores resulted in a 46% reduction in logged incidents of theft and anti-social behaviour, with over 90% of offenders not returning.”
Forest Hill also has facial recognition.
Simple answer is to refuse to shop there.
I was also under the impression it was only being trialled at 2 stores including Sydenham.
I’ve not been since and have told them why.
They also share data with watchlists to other organisations.
There is no legislation governing this technology currently.
Under the UK GDPR, processing biometric data to uniquely identify someone is prohibited unless a lawful basis under Article 6 and a condition in Article 9 are met. Five conditions for processing are found only in Article 9, while the other five require authorisation or a legal basis in UK law. This means you must also meet extra conditions in section 10 and Schedule 1 of the DPA 2018, depending on which Article 9 condition applies. See the guidance on special category data for more details. They should also carry out a Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) that clearly explains the need for using Facial Recognition Technology (FRT), the lawful basis for doing so, and examines the impact on the rights and freedoms of individuals whose personal data is captured during each deployment.
They’re also supposed to display appropriate signage showing who is handling the data, the company name, and a contact number or email so you can request any footage of yourself. If they don’t, it’s a serious breach of GDPR.
Also if you are stopped by the store security guard who is employed by a private company as Sainsbury’s use a company called Mitie check to see if they have their Blue SIA badge on display which is a legal requirement as part of their licensing if they don’t they could be committing an criminal offence under the Private Security Industrial Act 2001 Section 9 Para 1c. Conditions imposing obligations as to the production and display of the licence; this required to be on display at all times. Otherwise they are committing an criminal offence which they could be arrested by the police or a member of the public Under Section 24 of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (PACE), a constable may arrest without a warrant. The offender could be imprisoned up to six moths and/or given a fine and lose their licence also their line manager and also the directors of the client and the provider are also liable.
I think the bigger issue here is how bad the situation has become for stores to start using these technologies.
I can see there are concerns about it’s use, however the cold hard truth is the people to blame are those stealing and committing anti social offences at the stores.
While it’s good to be aware of the legal responsibilities of each of the companies, if we want shops to continue to operate the way they do, there needs to be some understanding of why they are using such technology. I would suggest to anyone concerned by it’s use to either voice their feelings or shop elsewhere, (which I can see some have) Although I get the distinct impression this will become more and more common.
I thought some Coop stores had been doing the same for some time now. (correction this was the Southern Coop)
Perhaps a more sensible solution/outcome for the supermarkets, their customers and local law enforcement would be to draw focus away from the fashionable catchphrase of “we need more housing” to ‘we need much more prison infrastructure to deter criminals that make these surveillance measures necessary for our brick and mortar stores to remain a viable economical option in the locality’. Just look at the example of food deserts in the States for an example. You steal from us enough and we’ll simply up sticks and leave.
As soon as facial recognition is enabled at a Sainsbury’s, they have large signs outside with a QR code for customers to read their rights and what Sainsbury’s are allowed to do with the data when they enter the store.
The Local in Dulwich has it as well, but I’m not sure about the other one near Honor Oak Park station.