Kroger’s facial recognition plans draw increasing concern from lawmakers
therecord.media
Kroger’s plans to roll out facial recognition tools at its grocery stores is attracting increased criticism from lawmakers, who warn that it could be exploited to increase the prices certain individuals pay for food and put customers’ personal data at risk.

In a letter Friday to Kroger CEO Rodney McMullen, Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) said the plans — which involve using facial recognition tools in digital displays to target advertising to customers and collect information on them — potentially pave the way for biased pricing discrimination.

“Studies have shown that facial recognition technology is flawed and can lead to discrimination in predominantly Black and Brown neighborhoods,” Tlaib wrote in the letter, which was posted on social media Tuesday. “The racial biases of facial recognition technology are well documented and should not be extended into our grocery stores.”

Kroger is the largest grocery store chain in the country with nearly 3,000 stores and $3.1 billion in profits in 2023. Kroger and other retailers already use electronic shelving labels instead of paper labels to rapidly adjust prices based on a variety of factors, including time of purchase, where a grocery store is located and other data.

The plan to use facial recognition technology could allow the retailer to build individual profiles on customers, based on data like their gender and shopping habits.

In an August letter sent to McMullen about the same plans, Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Bob Casey (D-PA) said they were concerned about the chain building “personalized profiles of each customer, and then use those profiles ‘to determine how much price hiking each of us can tolerate,’ quickly updating and displaying the customer’s maximum willingness to pay on the digital price tag.”

The use of facial recognition tools in Kroger stores also raises concerns about how Kroger intends to “adequately” safeguard customer data, the Warren and Casey letter said.

  • ItsComplicated@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    48·
    10 days ago

    If companies can’t protect the information they collect now, (a large portion of it gathered without consent), how are they going to protect even more information; and where can I opt out?..smh

    • sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      18·
      10 days ago

      Two options:

      • wear something that prevents facial recognition (something like Reflectacles, for example)
      • don’t shop at Kroger

      I’m doing the latter, but I’m probably going to pick up some anti-facial recognition stuff as well, just to screw with the various other orgs that do this (gonna try going through the airport w/ them as well the next time I travel).

      • Noxy@yiffit.netEnglish
        4·
        10 days ago

        I’ve thought about Reflectacles too, but I doubt the cameras use infrared in a store that’s already very well lit.

        Great idea though, and I hope they work on countermeasures that work with visible light cameras too

        • sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
          1·
          10 days ago

          My understanding is that’s how most facial recognition is done regardless of lighting, because they can blast it to get a better read without bothering people, and the more accurate facial recognition solutions use eyes (solves the problem of different skin tones, facial hair, etc).

          They certainly use visible light cameras, but they don’t necessarily run their facial recognition w/ visible light.

        • sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
          21·
          10 days ago

          Is it? In my area, here are some alternatives:

          Some of those are regional, so fill in whatever exists in your area (e.g. Aldi in the NE US). Kroger brands are maybe 20% of the stores in my area. I used to shop at them primarily (they were the closest), but they’re now less convenient than other stores (takes an extra 10 min to get there). Even when I lived right next to a Kroger-brand store, there were still at least two other options within 10 min drive.

          And I’m not even in a particularly densely populated area, I’m in the suburbs in Utah, about 30-45 min from downtown.