Office of the Privacy Commissioner | OPC urges caution in facial recognition trial
Foodstuffs North Island have engaged constructively with the Office of the Privacy Commissioner on their trial of in-store facial recognition technology, including sharing with us their privacy impact assessment for comment.
We prompted Foodstuffs North Island to carefully consider whether the use of facial recognition technology was a necessary, proportionate, and effective response to harmful behaviour in Foodstuffs stores. We also provided a range of other comments, including the importance of being transparent with shoppers about the use of facial recognition technology, and to proactively engage with stakeholders, including Māori.
We recognise Foodstuffs has a responsibility to take steps to keep customers and staff safe. However, it is not clear to our office how facial recognition technology is going to achieve this. As a result, we have been counselling caution given the privacy intrusive nature of facial recognition technology and the inaccuracy and profiling risks involved.
We are pleased to see Foodstuffs is undertaking a controlled trial before making the decision to use the technology on a broader and ongoing basis. It will be important this trial assesses whether the facial recognition technology is effective in keeping people safe, as well as the privacy protections put in place and any privacy risks to members of the public including profiling risks.
We understand there is existing facial recognition technology use in 29 stores. We have asked Foodstuffs to provide us with the details of the specific stores so we can follow up to determine whether this use of facial recognition technology is in accordance with the Privacy Act, this includes the storage, security, retention and disposal of this information.
Any store using facial recognition technology must clearly inform customers about its use. Customers who are concerned about what these stores may hold on them should ask for access to this information. Customers who are concerned that their privacy has been breached or that their request for their information has been inappropriately denied should make a complaint to our Office.
The Office of the Privacy Commissioner has recently completed consultation on privacy regulation of biometrics, including facial recognition technology. We intend to report back on our proposed regulatory approach by the end of the year.