Kmart Halts Use of In-Store Facial Recognition Amid Australian Privacy Investigation (engadget.com) 26
Kmart and Bunnings have temporarily halted use of facial recognition in their local stores while the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) investigates the privacy implications of their systems. The two chains were trialing the technology to spot banned customers, prevent refund fraud and reduce theft. Engadget reports: The investigation started in mid-July, a month after the consumer advocacy group Choice learned that Kmart and Bunnings were testing facial recognition. Bunnings had already paused use as it migrated to a new system. Other Australian retailers, such as Aldi, Coles and Woolworths, have said they don't have plans to adopt the technology.
Both retailers defended their implementations. A Kmart spokesperson stressed that its facial recognition tech was used for "preventing criminal activity" and had strict privacy controls. Bunnings managing director Mike Schneider, meanwhile, claimed Choice was "mischaracterizing" face detection. The company's trial is only meant to catch banned customers and doesn't store images for regular shoppers, he said.
Both retailers defended their implementations. A Kmart spokesperson stressed that its facial recognition tech was used for "preventing criminal activity" and had strict privacy controls. Bunnings managing director Mike Schneider, meanwhile, claimed Choice was "mischaracterizing" face detection. The company's trial is only meant to catch banned customers and doesn't store images for regular shoppers, he said.
...doesn't store images for regular shoppers (Score:3)
Re:...doesn't store images for regular shoppers (Score:4, Interesting)
Thankfully, in plenty of countries there are now laws/are laws in processing, where there is no grey area.
Facial recognition is/will just be plain illegal. In all cases. Done.
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Read the laws. Many if not all of them have very large gray areas.
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Thankfully, in plenty of countries there are now laws/are laws in process, where there is no grey area.
Facial recognition is/will just be plain illegal except when it is done by the government..
Corrected for you.
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Yeah right. We believe you /s
The code is probably something like: if (customer.skin_color 0xFF) { sound_alarm(); lockdown_store(); battledroids.deploy(); }
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Colour 0xFFFFFF is dead white - so they are clearly preparing for the zombie apocalypse.
Here's a solution (Score:3)
Require display of membership card on entry.
Problem customer? Revoke their membership.
That should solve your problem.
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kmart is at deaths door members only will kill it (Score:2)
kmart is at deaths door members only will kill it
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kmart is at deaths door members only will kill it
Nobody will miss it. I was surprised to know it was still in business.
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Australian Kmart isn't the same as US Kmart. They seem to be doing kind of OK with over 300 shops still operating, although they really seem to be aiming at the very bottom end of the market these days.
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Interesting idea, but unlike Costco, Kmart operates in shopping centres (malls). So there would be major hurdles.
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Just make it a members only store like Costco and be done with it.
Your idea is stupid. Why not just suggest they close up business every time they have a customer they don't like?
That's what you're describing since precisely zero people pay for membership for these kinds of stores (they are not Costco, and Costco really isn't very successful in Australia either, to say nothing of the fact they don't actually check membership on the way in).
Kmart? (Score:3)
It the real story here is that Kmart still exists? Is that the same company as the now-defunct US chain?
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Kmart Australia Limited was born out of a joint venture between G.J Coles & Coy Limited (Coles) and the S.S. Kresge Company which was the company that operated Kmart stores in the United States.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
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Also, Kmart isn't defunct. They still have three stores and a website. :-D
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It the real story here is that Kmart still exists? Is that the same company as the now-defunct US chain?
You're clearly unfamiliar with Australia, when it comes to retail they are 20 years behind the rest of the world.
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Is that the same company as the now-defunct US chain?
No it's not.
Kmart? (Score:2, Insightful)
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Yes, Australian K-marts which have zero to do with the US variety.
mask (Score:2)
just wear a mask
it's a toss up
surveillance or covid