Rite Aid Banned From AI Facial Recognition by FTC After Misuse

Rite Aid Corp. must stop using facial recognition for the next five years as part of a privacy settlement with the US Federal Trade Commission, which said the pharmacy chain misused the technology to mistakenly tag consumers as shoplifters.

In a complaint filed in federal court Tuesday, the FTC said Rite Aid used a facial recognition system at stores based in large cities around the US, including New York City, Los Angeles, Baltimore and elsewhere, without notifying customers. The system used low-quality images often taken from security cameras to create a database of alleged shoplifters, and would send alerts ...