The commercial use of facial recognition technology for security, access, marketing and customer service is rapidly growing. Privacy advocates argue that widespread use of the technology will allow businesses to identify and track almost anyone in public without their consent or even knowledge. Businesses argue that individuals should not expect complete privacy in public and that some loss of privacy is outweighed by the benefits the technology offers consumers and businesses. Multiple privacy, government and industry organizations have established "best practices" regarding the commercial use of biometric technology, but the recommendations are merely advisory and often conflict with each other.
Should businesses be required to obtain a person's express consent before using facial recognition technology?
My knee jerk answer to this question is yes. After stepping back and thinking about the issue a little more thoroughly I do have questions regarding how realistic requiring express consent is. At the very least companies should post boldly and openly that they use facial recognition technology. People should know and be able to choose whether or not to use the business. But if the realistic nature of the situation is out of the question I am inclined to say yes. Business should be required to obtain express consent before using facial recognition technology.
ReplyDeleteMy answer to this is yes but in a lesser degree. I think all that the store has to do is add a sign in the walkways explaining that they are using facial recognition to track customers in the store. I think the cameras should only be able to recognize people literally in the store. If It is tracking people that are walking by I don't believe that its okay. I think that the stores should do this because It would help their store out a lot. They could see data and statistics of people and see what people like in their store. This would help their advertising, product selection, etc. This technology I believe is great, however people need to be at least notified that its happening.
ReplyDeleteI think notice should be given so people may choose between the services offered by the business and their right to privacy and anonymity. I don't think that express consent is practical; for places like grocery stores and department stores, it doesn't make sense to stop every patron and ask them if they consent to the use of FRT. By placing notices and clearly identifying their use of FRT, businesses set up an option for patrons to implicitly comply with the use or to value their privacy over convenience, or whatever use the business has for utilizing FRT.
ReplyDeleteMy initial concern with businesses requiring persons expressed consent is how they would implement this. In some respect, I do believe a business should have a sign or post that would indicate that they are using facial recognition software, but I wonder how feasible it is to acquire express consent. Is it even applicable when there is no reasonable expectation of privacy in public? If, so is that expectation solely applied to “Big brother”, or is that expectation applied to “Little brother” as well. I can see both sides of the argument. As a consumer, I would like to have a business notify me on a sign preferably that they are using facial recognition software while I shop. This question also brings to mind some of the categories we spoke about in class today. What are the uses of this facial recognition in consumerism? More importantly who would have access to the technology-- would it solely be the company?
ReplyDeleteMy answer to this question depends on how the information obtained by facial recognition technology is used, and whether or not it is retained. If a store only uses FRT while the customer is in the store, and does not retain the faceprint beyond the time the person is in the store, then I think only a notice that FRT is being used is necessary. If a store retains its customers' faceprints beyond that visit, and begins to create long term profiles of its visitors and their purchases then I do think express consent should be required. I also think express consent should be required if a faceprint is retained to be used for targeted ads by the store, sold to other companies, or shared with the government. Implementation of obtaining express consent may be a challenge, but I think respecting people's privacy should be a priority. Providing a notice for temporary facial recognition, and express consent for retention and sharing of biometric data allows people to choose what information is gathered about them and how much privacy and anonymity they have.
ReplyDeleteI believe that businesses should attempt to gain express permission before using facial recognition technology. However, I do agree with a majority of comments here that it would be nearly impossible to successfully gain permission from everyone. For services that rely on recognizing faces, such as websites for security or accounts at fast food places that remember a customer’s usual order, permission should be gained before the business uses the technology. However, many establishments use the software to watch everyone at once, such as banks for security or malls for data. Express permission is impossible to gain in these circumstances, as people may enter the wrong building or decide to leave quickly. A problem with this use of the software is how it makes it possible to track someone between locations, which is similar to stalking. In my opinion, if a person decides to go to a public spade, they have accepted the fact that there’s a chance someone will decide to follow them. Steps should be made to limit the ability to track with the face recognition technology, but letting the customer know about the technology by using signs should count as permission. If the technology is used one on one then express permission should be necessary.
ReplyDeleteYes, I think companies should have to express consent to use facial recognition technology, but it would be naive of me to believe facial recognition is not the future of retail. It’s inevitable just like self-driving cars. In the end because company’s own the property, they have jurisdiction over most occurrences as long as it functions within the boundaries of the law. When you step foot in a store you are giving your consent to the company. Just like your privacy on the internet, its up to the company to do what they want with people’s personal information that was collected from using their website. If you walk into a store, you are choosing to be on their property and its up to them if they want to use facial recognition to benefit their business. I personally would want to not allow it but I don’t think that’s fair to the company’s rights.
ReplyDeleteYes. I can't help but remember the scenes in the futuristic movie Minority Report in which the main character is advertised to (and tracked) based on an instant iris scan in public spaces. Eventually, he receives an eye transplant to avoid this. Digression aside, I think in order to protect a consumer or citizen from constant tracking (by either the government or by a business), consent should be required, which is how it seems to be today.
ReplyDeleteI do believe that businesses should have to obtain express consent before using facial recognition technology. However, depending on the specific applications and purposes, I’m not sure how feasible that really is. I think that at the very least there should be some sort of notification in a place that would be nearly impossible to miss. An argument could be made that the presence of this notification could potentially serve to give a sort of implied consent if the customer still chooses to proceed. However, I think if the technology is applied to an additional service or perk that a customer would have to create an account to gain access to then there’s no excuse for not gaining express consent.
ReplyDeleteYes, I believe consent should be required prior to businesses being able to use facial recognition on any person. If stores weren’t required to get consent then essentially every camera at every store could be tracking each individual customer without their knowledge of it even happening. At the very least a store should have a signs, much like the current “this premises is under video surveillance” signs, clearly stating that facial recognition is in use and that by entering the store you agree to it’s use. Another solution is businesses could have select checkout lanes for those that want to use facial recognition so instead of the cameras scanning throughout the store it is only as you leave to pay and the business then can store your purchase information and face print in one specific area of the store.
ReplyDeleteYes. I think that the best way to approve the facial recognition idea within a store would be you could only track people inside the store if they were part of a "membership" with the store. They would have to be physically in the store in order to be tracked as well. You could gain access to coupons and other opportunities as part of the membership and when you entered the store it would recognize your face and send you deals via text or otherwise. It could reward people for frequenting the same stores similar to other memberships now. However, you would not have to do this and so they couldn't use face recognition on you upon entering the store, but upon checkout you could be asked to join the program. This would allow the store to cater more to the needs of their rewards members.
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ReplyDeleteNo. I think that customers should be informed that the technology is in use in the establishment but it should be understood that if one shops there a face-print will be made of their face. However, I do not think that businesses should use such technology in public outside of their businesses. Also, if the face-prints are used for other purposes than promotional and business related uses then I believe express consent should need to be given.
ReplyDeleteI don't think that a business should need consent to simply use facial recognition technology, but should have consent before storing any data obtained. For instance, in the example given in class where a person walks past a storefront and is identified using facial recognition software and that information is then used to send personalized coupons to their phone; I do not think consent would be needed for this in itself, however if the store were to save the location information on the individual I think tbey would need consent.
ReplyDeleteI don't think that a business should need consent to simply use facial recognition technology, but should have consent before storing any data obtained. For instance, in the example given in class where a person walks past a storefront and is identified using facial recognition software and that information is then used to send personalized coupons to their phone; I do not think consent would be needed for this in itself, however if the store were to save the location information on the individual I think they would need consent.
ReplyDeleteI believe that implied/informed consent is all that should be necessary for a business to use facial recognition. As long as the business is making their use of facial recognition public knowledge, then it falls to the consumer to be aware of whether they consent to doing business with the company. This goes doubly for the storage of face-maps, and I feel that it would be best for companies to make a statement about how frequently that information is purged from servers.
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