Grocery Outlet's Facial Recognition Program Raises Privacy Concerns

Dystopian evils continue to manifest in underwhelming ways as the surveillance state pairs up with Bay Area discount supermarket chain, Grocery Outlet. The bargain mart affectionately known as Gross Out is partnering with facial recognition software company SAFR Guard by RealNetworks. RealNetworks launched SAFR (Secure Accurate Facial Recognition) eight years ago. They equip supermarkets, nightclubs, concert venues, K–12 schools, wherever, with surveillance technology unseen in most federal prisons. Like with every tech prototype turned loose on an unconsenting public, it is far from perfect. SAFR will have repercussions; some may be happening already. 

Most of us correctly wouldn’t trust A.I. with our email addresses, let alone a detailed scan of our faces. Yet that’s exactly what Gross Out is asking us to do. You may not realize it, however. They are not requesting your permission up front like in Illinois where your explicit “affirmative consent” is required. Grocery Outlet takes your entrance as consent to add your picture to their collection like some creeper taking upskirt shots on Muni. 

You, me, and almost everyone we know would breeze right past the only advertisement of these terms and conditions. The Emeryville-based chain operates five locations around San Francisco. Mission Local’s Kelly Waldron found SAFR cameras in operation at the Bayview, Mission, Portola, and Richmond District stores. At each location, one simple decal clinging to plate glass is all the warning you get. Worse, Waldron reports that two locations printed the label on what appears to be semi-transparent acetate, rendering it practically invisible. 

SAFR Guard and RealNetworks will require passive public acceptance of their basic rights being violated to grift without resistance. Like any villain with a platform, their first move is to espouse wholesome virtues. “Rooted in ‘AI for Good,’ SAFR delivers the industry’s first unified facial recognition ecosystem, seamlessly spanning access control, surveillance, and mobile solutions.” See how they try to hide it? “It’s a good thing, what we’re doing (violating your privacy, perpetuating racism, spying on our customers).” SAFR Guard knows exactly what you’re afraid of (“compromising personal privacy or data integrity”), then guarantees to do anything but. Like a known abuser who swears he’ll never hit you. 

While you're wondering whether you’re out of peanut butter, Grocery Outlet is running your image through SAFR’s private “watchlist.” Their camera discreetly took your picture on your way in. It scanned your face and skin tone for any resemblance, or “match,” to somebody on the list. The watchlist contains information on persons suspected of “causing harm in some way.” SAFR and RealNetworks employee Chris Ochs says if their system finds you’re a match, it alerts building security.

Sucks for anyone with an evil twin. Everyone else, don’t fret! SAFR RealNetworks President Charisse Jacques swears that if a customer’s picture doesn’t match a face on the watchlist, it is deleted immediately. 

So what’s all the fuss about? Your face is as innocent of any crime as you are, right? Nevermind that SAFR users may independently house the biometric measurements of your face in private storage. Forget the fact that those same subscribers may also pool that information with other SAFR-participating retailers. As somebody with Nothing To Hide, all you are asked to do is let it happen. Like Jacques cleared up with Mission Local, “It’s not about mass surveillance. It’s about ‘targeted deployment.’”

Deployment of what? As it turns out, it isn’t what, but who: that is, anyone with a guard card. The biggest reason Grocery Outlet and other retail stores are adopting the software is to curb shoplifting. In regions and states where this technology is already in use, participants are reporting a drop in shoplifting. But as more businesses embrace facial recognition software to track customers good and bad, mistakes are inevitable. 

If Lime scooters, Waymo, and that cybertruck pileup X-the-Everything-App (formerly Twitter) are proof of tech’s propensity for failure, how should this be any different? Cracks were beginning to show as early as 2023, when the Federal Trade Commission barred Rite Aid from employing the technology. The decision came after facial recognition software at Rite Aid misidentified several people as shoplifters. The software also seems to have inherited humankind’s knack for racism. A study on racial bias in facial recognition technology found that Black women are considerably more likely to be wrongly accused. 

SAFR President Charisse Jacques says her company does not share information with police. It’s company policy that records remain private unless a legal injunction (like a search warrant) says otherwise. I think it’s a weapon of mass surveillance just asking to fall into the wrong hands. It is only a matter of time until someone gets jailed in a case of mistaken identity, then files suit. This software will invariably make daily travel more dangerous for already-marginalized people. Profit has never seemed to matter more. 

But let’s see what Ms. Jacques says her system is ultimately for.

“It’s to create a safer environment for both the workers and the shopper,” she says. 

Do you believe her?