On a recent supermarket shopping trip, I noticed that Woolworths now have at least two cameras at the self-service checkout; one viewing the face and one watching the trolley, the weighing/scanner and shelf for scanned items to record any anomalies. I would assume that facial recognition is also on the agenda. I understand that dishonest shoppers should be dissuaded from stealing, but this is quite demeaning and offensive for honest shoppers.
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Iām confused, by what appears to be two contradicting statements.
One statement says,
However, no technology is perfect, so the camera also records what item is placed into the shopperās grocery bag.
On occasions when an item cannot be recognised by the AI, the checkout will alert a Woolies staff member so they can verify it, revealing imagery of the inside of the customerās shopping bag
And the another,
Just like the footage recording shoppersā faces at self-service checkouts, Woolworths states the images taken of the shopping bags are ānot recorded or storedā.
It seems the imagery must be stored for a period of time on some device in the system to do as indicated
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I went to Woolies supermarket in New Norfolk Tasmania a few days ago and when I had finished my shopping I went to the area where there are a group of self serve chechout machines to process my groceries. While doing so, I noticed a camera at the self serve chechout machine. I asked the staffperson on duty in that area if the camera was a facial recognition camera and was told yes it was. I told her this was considered an invasion of my personal privacy rights and asked where the notice was that informed customers that they were being scanned. The girl did not know, so I checked that area and could not find a notice. I then went to the entrance of the shop and could not find a notice informing of facial recognition cameras there either.
Does this mean that Woolies are doing facial rcognition in all their stores? Has anyone else noticed an image of their face on the top right of the Woolies checkout machine?
I have not heard in the media of Woolies supermarkets having facial recognition cameras. Have they slipped under the radar on this?
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Well it could equally well mean that the āstaffperson on dutyā has NFI whether the camera is a facial recognition camera - so the person just said āyesā, as the legally safer option.
Most definitely.
I only started doing self-checkout with the advent of the pandemic (safer for me, regardless of the other issues, which donāt need to be debated in this topic). I canāt swear that the camera was there from Day 1 but it has definitely been around for quite a while.
It is also the case that any rollout may be phased - so when my local Woollies got camera surveillance on the self-checkouts doesnāt tell you for sure when your local Woollies did.
Also consider that the absence of the selfie-image does NOT imply the absence of a camera. The camera could have been there from Day 1, and in use, and Woollies decided later to put the selfie-image on the screen, for reasons of deterrence, legal reasons or other reasons. Or the camera could have been there from Day 1 but intentionally deactivated until a later time.
Which all serves to illustrate how there is a lack of transparency. With the law struggling to keep up, companies are not sufficiently strongly required to be transparent. So this is what happens.
Regarding ālegal reasonsā, it could be argued, if a little sketchily, that showing you the selfie-image is a valid notice. Itās multi-lingual too for those areas with a high percentage of people who canāt read legalese (or English). 
PS for this topic generally ā¦
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The company has stated that it does not use facial recognition. One can only assume that the staff member did not understand the question (or perhaps the technology). It is likely that the camera captures your image for storing in a database, but the image is not then checked against other images to match/track an individual over several visits to possibly several different locations.
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If you use an Everyday Rewards card then of course you are tracked without any need for FR.
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Only if itās the same one
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Thank you āpostulativeā for checking into the company policy about the camera. As the camera is at eye level, I suspect the camera is watching your eye movements as you scan the products, possibly to ensure you are actually scanning each product.
Still donāt like the idea that I have not been informed or asked do I want to use the checkout based on the fact that a copy of this filming will be stored in a database. Is it, therefore, much different to facial recognition regarding my privacy rights.
I agree that the use of my Everyday Rewards card is tracking my purchases for the purpose of marketing specials to me based of my purchases. Thatās still an invasion of my privacy that is used for marketing (as Google does with your online searches), however, its a tool I can benefit from. FR is not, and like FR, I should be advised/consent sought when a company is storing my facial information at the checkout without my consent.
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Doesnāt the checkout use the weight to ensure that what goes in the bag matches what is scanned?
I donāt doubt though that this could be and will be supplemented with additional technology.
Lose F&V are weighted but the produce needs to be looked up by name etc., and thereās a possibility that a āmistakeā is made and a cheaper produce is enteredā¦
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Thatās a possibility Gaby. Whatever the purpose, the software has been implemented for a reason.
Yes.
What I said only applies to products that have a regular barcode, and in some cases to deli items and the like that have a specifically printed and attached barcode.
For loose F&V (where there is no barcode), as you say, the possibility of a āmistakeā exists.
It does indeed. Like the people who think mushrooms are priced per kilo of caps only instead of caps and stems, so they mistakenly leave the stems behind in the bin for some less fortunate shopper.
Last week at both Coles and Woolworths I realised there is a camera in the self checkouts clearly recording my face. I asked the staff members in that area in both stores is it biometric facial and or iris recognition and where does the data go and how is it protected? In both stores the answer was a shrug of shoulders and an embarrassed ādonāt knowā? Having removed almost all front of store staff, both supermarkets are now squealing about the cost to their business of shop lifting, ironically on the back of massive profits from both. You can avoid the camera by standing to the side but that requires some tricky reaching and stretching and Iām finding it easier to just simply avoid those stores. However, with the rapid growth of AI technology should this data falls into the wrong hands, it could take scammers and hacking to a whole new level, why is no-one concerned about this?
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I merged a number of posts in somewhat related topics to focus on camera surveillance, as compared to facial recognition.
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Camera surveillance of customers has been with us for many years. Itās a well accepted tool for meeting store security needs. Joining the dots it can be connected to the use of FR (facial recognition). Note a seperate Community topic.
āFacial recognition at retail stores - we need your help
As an aside, Iris Recognition has been with us for a long time. Star Trek - The Wrath of Khan II, Blade Runner, Never Say Never Again (James Bond), all 1982-83 vintage. Anyone who has had an eye check recently might recognise the capability of technology to see into your eye. Possibly a stretch for the average Coles and Woolies.
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I assure that some people are concerned about this.
That isnāt really surprising though, is it? You may get a better answer by asking āhead officeā.
Even if floor staff at one time knew the answer, I imagine that the firmware in those self-serve checkouts can be updated remotely - so the knowledge of the staff can become out of date without their even knowing that. Likewise, there will be a split in functionality between what happens on the self-serve checkout and what happens elsewhere in the retailerās network and, again, it isnāt necessarily the case that floor staff will keep abreast of changing backend functionality.
You can potentially frustrate the camera by wearing a mask or even becoming a Juggalo where reportedly Juggalo makeup can defeat facial recognition.
Last week I went into my Woolies in the mid-AM to buy sushi for an Xmas get together. A few of our local Woolies have an embedded sushi company. Good product and absolutely lovely helpful people with peak convenience, and hours before any of the other sushi shops open.
They made sure I had wasabi packets and sticks. There were lines at all the manned checkouts (I normally use) so in a rush I resigned myself to a self check. After scanning the multiple sushi containers and tried to move on to the payment screen the robot system posted āare you sure you scanned all your items?ā in an accusatory manner and locked up awaiting āstaff assistanceā to scan those valuable items I might have been absconding with.
I realised it āsawā the sticks and wasabi packets that did not get scanned, being gratis with the sushi, no bar codes applied. The staff who had to clear the robot thought it was funny, I did not but thanked her for her attentive and quick assistance.
I find it curious the trend is to go receipt-less even from these robot machines yet one is open to an accusation and has to produce proof of payment to a human from time to time. It seems a trend where we are presumed suspicious at random or for reason, yet encouraged to decline a printed receipt. No operative net access or when using a card as is the norm, a pending payment may not show on an account for a brief time so party on? or be detained until it does? or join the rewards program that keeps records for rewards and just in case? - not going there in this topic. I presume they can also confirm a payment from the robot, so only embarrassment and inconvenience?
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My daughter says there are sites that tell people how to shoplift the self checkout machines.
Changing labels etc, and on fresh fruit entering the wrong item, brown onions instead of whatever.
I had no idea, but itās a thing apparantly.
Hence, the supermarkets trying to find effective ways to police their checkouts ā¦ didnāt happen when they had staff doing it of course!
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The scales in Woolworths are able to determine the product. I imagine that itās only a matter of time before the self-checkouts can do the same, in which case entering the wrong item is likely to have negative consequences for the customer.
