Kroger’s facial recognition plans draw increasing concern from lawmakers
therecord.media
Kroger’s plans to roll out facial recognition tools at its grocery stores is attracting increased criticism from lawmakers, who warn that it could be exploited to increase the prices certain individuals pay for food and put customers’ personal data at risk.

In a letter Friday to Kroger CEO Rodney McMullen, Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) said the plans — which involve using facial recognition tools in digital displays to target advertising to customers and collect information on them — potentially pave the way for biased pricing discrimination.

“Studies have shown that facial recognition technology is flawed and can lead to discrimination in predominantly Black and Brown neighborhoods,” Tlaib wrote in the letter, which was posted on social media Tuesday. “The racial biases of facial recognition technology are well documented and should not be extended into our grocery stores.”

Kroger is the largest grocery store chain in the country with nearly 3,000 stores and $3.1 billion in profits in 2023. Kroger and other retailers already use electronic shelving labels instead of paper labels to rapidly adjust prices based on a variety of factors, including time of purchase, where a grocery store is located and other data.

The plan to use facial recognition technology could allow the retailer to build individual profiles on customers, based on data like their gender and shopping habits.

In an August letter sent to McMullen about the same plans, Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Bob Casey (D-PA) said they were concerned about the chain building “personalized profiles of each customer, and then use those profiles ‘to determine how much price hiking each of us can tolerate,’ quickly updating and displaying the customer’s maximum willingness to pay on the digital price tag.”

The use of facial recognition tools in Kroger stores also raises concerns about how Kroger intends to “adequately” safeguard customer data, the Warren and Casey letter said.

  • dejected_warp_core@lemmy.worldEnglish
    31·
    6 days ago

    The key phrase to remember here is: Price Discrimination.

    Stores already possess the technology to track anyone’s shopping experience through loyalty cards. The “discounts” you get are really just a tax on everyone that doesn’t participate, and the benefits to the company for having your data are worth potentially losing business from un-tracked customers. That’s how valuable your data is.

    So why aren’t we seeing per-customer targeting? This is not to suggest that businesses are benign here, but rather, just cautious about outright per-customer discounts and other price manipulation. Custom coupons are kinda/sorta a part of this. IMO, the door is still wide-open to find ways palatable to the customer (and courts) while dialing everyone in.

    In that context, all cameras do is make the system practically impossible to dodge. Considering how much stores value that kind of information, it makes sense they’d invest to capture 100% of their retail activity.

  • MehBlah@lemmy.worldEnglish
    21·
    7 days ago

    Just don’t shop at kroger. Problem solved. In some cases this may be the only available store but in those cases the prices are usually higher anyway. No matter the company operating the store

  • dan@upvote.auEnglish
    1311·
    8 days ago

    “To be clear, Kroger does not and has never engaged in ‘surge pricing,’” the statement said. “Any test of electronic shelf tags is designed to lower prices for more customers where it matters most.”

    Isn’t that the same thing? It doesn’t matter if you raise prices on demand or lower them, the outcome is the same - different pricing at different times.

    • Letstakealook@lemm.eeEnglish
      821·
      8 days ago

      This is all a misunderstanding! The high price IS the regular price. We lower the prices at certain times to benefit our customers, who we love so very much. This is totally not surge pricing!

    • rand_alpha19@moist.catsweat.com
      341·
      8 days ago

      “Well, you see, ‘surge pricing’ means raising prices during the most high-traffic times. Here at Kroger, we pride ourselves in raising prices slightly before and after the peak times, and that’s technically not surge pricing! It’s just dynamic pricing with surge characteristics.”

      • WoodScientist@lemmy.worldEnglish
        4·
        8 days ago

        “Alright you chucklefuckers. Here’s the new law. You are required to have paper tags, the only discount you can offer is paper coupons sent through the mail to everyone in an area, and you’re never allowed to alter your prices more than once per week.”

    • abigscaryhobo@lemmy.worldEnglish
      111·
      8 days ago

      Yeah see it’s not surge pricing! We actually lower prices whentheresnobodyintheaisle so that the discounts are passed on to you! Also we list the lowered price in the ads and apps so when you come in you can be surprised by power of our tech! and the updated price

    • barsquid@lemmy.worldEnglish
      21·
      8 days ago

      “No, no, it’s totally different to lower prices when fixed income people are shopping and at all other times leave them the same, our lawyers were very certain of that.”

  • just_another_person@lemmy.worldEnglish
    961·
    8 days ago

    We need a law in the US banning the use of computer assistance for identifying humans. Hands down. It’s not accurate, and it only emboldens people controlling resources.

    • sunzu2@thebrainbin.org
      1117·
      8 days ago

      I donr think you underatand who rules the US…

      This ia a featuee of the system, not a bug

            • sunzu2@thebrainbin.org
              13·
              8 days ago

              Corps are just orgs no matter what the court says.

              They are owned by people and they are ran for the benefit of these people at expense of people who have to buy goods and services from them.

              This arrangement is fundamentally an oligarchy, corporate layer is a maxipad for the plebs to cope.

        • sunzu2@thebrainbin.org
          1013·
          8 days ago

          The oligarchs who each own a large steak in critical enterprises for the economy, which permits them to dictate policy and extract value from the state via various transfers from the treasury via tax regimes, loans or other state aid.

          Kinda weird for presumably an adult not to know this… but i guess we get politics we deserve after all

          Common plebs can’t even ID their owners 🤡

  • MajorHavoc@programming.devEnglish
    551·
    8 days ago

    I think they are absolutely, positively, going to breach their face database and everyone’s purchase history all over the Internet.

    I’ve been watching for an event like this with popcorn ready.

    I’ve got a good/bad/terrible feeling that they’re playing for keeps in the race to be the biggest consumer privacy headline public relations disaster.

  • ItsComplicated@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    48·
    8 days ago

    If companies can’t protect the information they collect now, (a large portion of it gathered without consent), how are they going to protect even more information; and where can I opt out?..smh

    • sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      18·
      8 days ago

      Two options:

      • wear something that prevents facial recognition (something like Reflectacles, for example)
      • don’t shop at Kroger

      I’m doing the latter, but I’m probably going to pick up some anti-facial recognition stuff as well, just to screw with the various other orgs that do this (gonna try going through the airport w/ them as well the next time I travel).

      • Noxy@yiffit.netEnglish
        4·
        8 days ago

        I’ve thought about Reflectacles too, but I doubt the cameras use infrared in a store that’s already very well lit.

        Great idea though, and I hope they work on countermeasures that work with visible light cameras too

        • sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
          1·
          7 days ago

          My understanding is that’s how most facial recognition is done regardless of lighting, because they can blast it to get a better read without bothering people, and the more accurate facial recognition solutions use eyes (solves the problem of different skin tones, facial hair, etc).

          They certainly use visible light cameras, but they don’t necessarily run their facial recognition w/ visible light.

        • sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
          21·
          7 days ago

          Is it? In my area, here are some alternatives:

          Some of those are regional, so fill in whatever exists in your area (e.g. Aldi in the NE US). Kroger brands are maybe 20% of the stores in my area. I used to shop at them primarily (they were the closest), but they’re now less convenient than other stores (takes an extra 10 min to get there). Even when I lived right next to a Kroger-brand store, there were still at least two other options within 10 min drive.

          And I’m not even in a particularly densely populated area, I’m in the suburbs in Utah, about 30-45 min from downtown.

  • HootinNHollerin@lemmy.worldEnglish
    47·
    7 days ago

    Kroger also owns: Ralphs, Dillons, Smith’s, King Soopers, Fred Myer, Fry’s, QFC, City Market, Owen’s, Jay C, Pay Less, Baker’s, Gerbes, Harris Teeter, Pick‘n Save, Metro Market and Mariano’s.

    • Flocklesscrow@lemm.eeEnglish
      241·
      7 days ago

      The US government should already be breaking up Kroger for its monopolistic practices.

      I suspect most of the C Suite is simply waiting for whatever they see as the peak of their share price to sell off everything and move on to their next parasitic host.

        • NateNate60@lemmy.worldEnglish
          1·
          7 days ago

          Because the “US Government” is not a monolithic entity but rather, a large and complex democratic organisation that citizens can influence the composition of through political participation.

    • sunzu2@thebrainbin.org
      42·
      8 days ago

      They did with airline tix and rents…

      Now time to bring this technology into your grocery store!

  • wrekone@lemmyf.ukEnglish
    29·
    8 days ago

    A Kroger spokesperson said in a statement that the company’s business model is built on a “foundation of lowering prices to attract more customers.” “To be clear, Kroger does not and has never engaged in ‘surge pricing,’” the statement said. “Any test of electronic shelf tags is designed to lower prices for more customers where it matters most.”

    I know these PR people get paid a lot to tell bald-faced lies, but I just don’t understand how they live with themselves.

    • Etterra@lemmy.worldEnglish
      18·
      8 days ago

      Because they’re high-functioning sociopaths. About 1 in 100 people are, and they tend to gravitate into executive, sales, legal, marketing, “law” enforcement, and other careers where having little to no empathy or conscience is a distinct advantage.

  • atrielienz@lemmy.worldEnglish
    301·
    8 days ago

    Mask mandates may not be in effect but I can wear one to the grocery store. This is stupid and I will not participate.

  • dan@upvote.auEnglish
    22·
    8 days ago

    In the USA, facial recognition isn’t legal in some states (e.g. the company needs written permission from the individual to collect their facial data in Illinois), and other stores have had issues with facial recognition (e.g. https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2023/12/rite-aid-banned-using-ai-facial-recognition-after-ftc-says-retailer-deployed-technology-without) so I’m not sure how Kroger think they’ll succeed with this.

    • MajorHavoc@programming.devEnglish
      8·
      8 days ago

      Honestly, they’ll probably miss that and pay massive fines in Illinois. It seems to be the traditional approach by companies that get into facial recognition to also not bother to listen to anyone who could have told them not to.