Privacy Laws - Cadillac Fairview (Malls) Facial Recognition

[Orange1]

https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2020/10/29/cadillac-fairview-broke-privacy-laws-by-using-facial-recognition-technology-at-malls-investigators-conclude.html

 

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Cadillac Fairview broke privacy laws by using facial recognition technology at malls, investigators conclude

Who knows what else they have done, but thankfully I dont go to malls and I never use the information kiosk.

 

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Cadillac Fairview broke Canadian privacy laws after the company embedded facial recognition technology inside wayfinding directories at a dozen malls and analyzed visitors’ images without obtaining proper consent, federal and provincial privacy commissioners announced Thursday.

It is pretty scary.

 

What do you guys think of this news story?

 

This problem is becoming more and more of, well a problem. I can see grocery stores doing the same thing because they spend lots of money on behavior study and changing behavior.

 

What technology would they have used to have a camera in behind the glass of mall layout kiosk, the glass has to be something special to hide it or maybe they did not hide it but it couldnt be a pinhole camera either, facial recognition cameras are beefy arent they?

 

 

The last paragraph was interesting

"But the report notes that Cadillac Fairview “expressly disagreed” with the findings of the privacy commissioners’ offices, and refused to commit to obtaining express, opt-in consent if it decides to use similar technology in the future — a position they called “concerning.”

 

 

 

 

 

[TetraSky]

"Big brother" is everywhere, has been for decades.

 

If not them, it would be some others. Facial recognition is there to stay. I'm just surprised the gov hasn't changed the privacy laws yet, to get this crap legal for them and their "partners".

In a likely near future, all cameras around would be interconnected, so as to find fugitives and whoever else.

Privacy? What's that, is it edible?

 

Honestly, they could just put a disclaimer on their doors saying "By entering these premises, you agree to X and Y" and that would probably be "good enough".

The masses doesn't care about cameras. Only a minority of people truly does, while the rest pretend to care for a few minutes after they see that story on their facebook/twitter timeline and promptly forgets about it when they need to go shopping for a new pair of jeans/shoes.

Every single stores out there have cameras in them, buses have cameras, the subway has cameras, some street corners have cameras... You can't escape cameras.

The fact that it has facial recognition and it can build a "profile" out of you, doesn't change anything at the end of the day, especially if you're white. Since this kind of tech works best for fair skinned folks while still discriminating against people of color, as usual, and label an innocent as a thief or something because it thinks all black people look the same.

[WkdPaul]

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But while Cadillac Fairview maintained that these “numerical representations” were not stored after use, the privacy investigators found that Anonymous Video Analytics kept 5 million of these facial representations on a decommissioned server on the company’s behalf, “for no apparent purpose and with no justification.”

 

 

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Questions about the use of facial recognition technology in Cadillac Fairview’s malls first surfaced in 2018 after a user on Reddit, a popular online forum, posted a picture of a malfunctioning wayfinding screen at Calgary’s Chinook Centre. The screen displayed lines of code that appeared to reference facial recognition software.

 

Following media reports, the federal, B.C. and Alberta privacy commissioners’ offices opened a joint investigation.

 

So basically, if one of those wayfinding PC didn't malfunctioned, or if someone's picture of this didn't blew up on Reddit, the different privacy commissioners wouldn't have opened an investigation... Interesting since this is what they had to say about the whole thing ;

 

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“We thank the Privacy Commissioner for the report and recommendations on how to further strengthen our privacy practices and agree that the privacy of our visitors must always be a top priority.”

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The investigators found the privacy complaints “well-founded,” and considered the case “resolved” after the company stopped using the technology, deleted the stored numerical facial representations and video, and provided privacy training for its guest services employees.

 

But the report notes that Cadillac Fairview “expressly disagreed” with the findings of the privacy commissioners’ offices, and refused to commit to obtaining express, opt-in consent if it decides to use similar technology in the future — a position they called “concerning.”

 

The report concludes that the company’s practice of obtaining consent with regard to this technology was insufficient. A sticker displayed on doors at the mall’s entrance directed shoppers to obtain a copy of the company’s privacy policy at the guest services kiosk.