Amazon has been sued over claims it failed to tell customers in New York City that they were being tracked by facial recognition technology.
In a class-action suit, Alfredo Perez’s lawyers claimed that the firm didn’t notify Amazon Go convenience store visitors that the technology was in use.
New York City law means businesses have to post signs if they are tracking clients’ biometric information, such as facial scans or fingerprints.
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Amazon was also accused of recently posting signs notifying New York customers of its use of facial recognition technology over a year after a disclosure law was enacted.
The complaint also argues that the Amazon Go store continuously monitors customers’ bodies to track them and their activities.
Some consumers’ palms are scanned, and computer vision, deep learning algorithms, and sensor fusion are used.
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The lawsuit says these technologies would measure the shape and size of each visitor’s body to identify them.
Perez is represented by the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project, a legal advocacy group devoted to New York privacy protections.
Albert Cahn, project director, said: “It means that even a global tech giant can’t ignore local privacy laws.
“As we wait for long overdue federal privacy laws, it shows there is so much local governments can do to protect their residents.”
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Amazon launched its Go stores in 2018, promising that shoppers could walk in, take whatever items they wanted off the shelves, and leave without checking out.
The company tracks visitors’ actions and charges their accounts when they leave.
It opened its first New York store the following year and has 10 Manhattan branches.
Amazon didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Source: NBC News
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