New Zealand’s Privacy Commissioner Michael Webster has commenced an inquiry into Foodstuffs North Island’s (FNSI) trial of facial recognition technology (FRT) in 25 of its supermarkets.
The supermarket co-operative of more than 300 grocers across New Zealand’s North Island launched the FRT trial in February.
The new inquiry, launched on April 4, is designed to monitor the way stores are running the trial to ensure that it is compliant with the Privacy Act.
It will also inform the commissioner’s assessment of the effectiveness of the use of FRT in reducing harmful behaviour in Foodstuffs North Island supermarkets once the trial is completed.
“At the end of the six-month trial, I will be assessing the evidence that the use of FRT is justified,” Webster said. “Has it made a practical and statistically significant difference to the incidence of retail crime in Foodstuffs North Island supermarkets relative to other less intrusive options?
“Using facial recognition technology to reduce harmful behaviour in supermarkets raises significant privacy risks and the trial is itself not without risk. That is why I will be paying close attention to the privacy safeguards being used during the trial using my Inquiry powers.”
As well as monitoring safeguards, the inquiry will also assess whether people having their faces scanned are confident that their data is being used safely - including how they are told about the trial and whether they can appeal being added to a watchlist.
It will also monitor whether any bias or accuracy issues are occurring, how staff training is carried out, and what happens in the store after the system creates an alert that someone on the watchlist has been identified.
“The use of this technology could have significant implications in retail in Aotearoa New Zealand,” Webster said. “There is no known other current use of facial recognition technology in the retail sector in New Zealand.
“Its use generally across New Zealand to scan and identify an individual in real-time and compare them against a database of faces is rare.”
In 2022, Kmart and Bunnings halted the use of FRT after The Office Of the Australian Information Commissioner launched an investigation into its compliance with privacy laws.
Alongside the trial, Webster is also calling on the public, particularly customers of the participating trial stores, about if and how the trial is impacting them.