Asda has commenced a two-month trial of Live Facial Recognition (LFR) technology at five stores in Greater Manchester to evaluate its effectiveness in enhancing employee and customer safety. The trial is a response to the escalating issue of retail crime, with Asda reporting approximately 1,400 assaults on staff last year.
The LFR system is integrated with Asda's existing CCTV network, scanning images and comparing them to a database of individuals who have committed crimes at Asda locations. When a match is detected, Asda's head office security team verifies the result and provides real-time feedback to the store.
In a statement responding to the news, Madeleine Stone, Senior Advocacy Officer at the digital rights group Big Brother Watch (BBW) said: "Asda's decision to deploy Orwellian facial recognition technology in its shops is deeply disproportionate and chilling," adding that the company is "adding customers to secret watchlists with no due process, meaning people could be blacklisted despite being innocent. Facial recognition has well-documented issues with accuracy and bias, and has already led to distressing and embarrassing cases of innocent shoppers being publicly branded as shoplifters.
"Facial recognition is dangerously out of control in the UK. Asda should abandon this trial and the government must urgently step in to prevent the uncheckered spread of this invasive technology."
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