Borders to Use CCTV Face Recognition

albanach writes: "This story at the Sunday Herald newspaper says Borders Bookshop is to become the world's first retailer to use face recognition software linked to their in-store CCTV cameras to automagically identify known shoplifters."

Comments

don't shop there

[jchristopher]

As long as we continue to give our rights away, companies will continue to take them!

Don't shop there, and tell all your friends why, too.

Re:don't shop there

[.@.]

At least in California, stores have no right to search you in this manner, and it's entirely legal for you to walk right out, ignoring these unwarranted searches.

According to California Penal Code section 490.5. (f) (1):

A merchant may detain a person for a reasonable time for the purpose of conducting an investigation in a reasonable manner whenever the merchant has probable cause to believe the person to be detained is attempting to unlawfully take or has unlawfully taken merchandise from the merchant's premises.

...and from (3) of the same part of the code:

(3) During the period of detention any items which a merchant or theater owner, or any items which a person employed by a library facility has probable cause to believe are unlawfully taken from the premises of the merchant or library facility, or recorded on theater premises, and which are in plain view may be examined by the merchant, theater owner, or person employed by a library facility for the purposes of ascertaining the ownership thereof.

So you see, unless they already have reason to suspect you've broken the law, they cannot require you to submit to these searches.

Unfortunately, I do not believe the same (or similar) law would apply to facial recognition. You have no reasonable assumption of privacy with respect to your physical appearance when in a public place (commercial private property included).

Several interesting papers of Facial Recognition

[hillct]

RAND.org, a public policy group, has a number of interesting papers on the legal, ethical and sociological implications ob Biometrics and specifically Facial Recognition as used at the Super Bowl this year.

-CTH

Re:What worries me most about this..

[Anonymous Coward]

Here's the way I see it: Companies often have a hard time catching shoplifters, because, 1) they acn't (legally) restrain a person before they've left the store. (I can put a book into my pocket and still go to the checkoput and pay for it; it's not shoplifting until you've left the store.) and 2) Once you leave the building, store security can not restarin you. They can only ask you to stay. (Howver, a shoplifter is allowed to legally walk away, as only police officers are allowed to restrain them.), and 3) the store can't prosecute them unless the have evidence (video cameras will work, but the employees' words can be easily beaten in court.)

That's incorrect. In most places you can restrain and report to the police anyone you see who commits a crime. This is what a "citizen's arrest" is. A few state laws are mentioned here including DC, Tenn, Mass, Kentucky, Utah. California is mentioned here. Of course its tricky business and you can get yourself in legal trouble if you harm the person or falsely accuse them. A short guide on that is here. I remember a show where this guy comes into a cafeteria with a baseball bat. So the staff takes the bat and beats the guy for about 10 minutes. Now they restrained a lawbreaker, but they got sued theirselves. So that kind of restraint is not legal, but it is legal to have a system that automatically locks the doors so the person can't leave. By the way, I am not a lawyer so don't go out being batman without consulting a lawyer first.

Customer care number for Borders

[DEATH AND HATRED]

I called a local borders to complain, and they gave me a customer care line at 1(800)566-6616 give em a call, and let them know why theyve lost your business.