We’ve all had that experience.
At a party and you just know that face but, agonizingly, can’t put a name to it.
Usually, when you talk to said unknown, you dance around the fact they were so memorable you can’t remember their name and nervously fake your way through the conversation until their identity hits you.
Well, apparently, Cadillac Fairview (CF) — the owners of Richmond Centre shopping mall and 22 like it across Canada — have an app for that.
It’s called “facial recognition technology” and, whether you like it or not, is almost certainly coming to a mall digital directory near you very soon…if it hasn’t already?
Richmond Centre may already be there. We’re not sure, as CF — which has suspended use of the tech after being called out by a customer in Calgary last month — won’t say if Richmond was using it, citing the current investigation by Canada’s privacy commissioner.
OK, so the tech can’t yet put a name to the face (I embellished to illustrate the path we’re on) and CF claims it was only using the software and cameras in mall directories to track shoppers’ ages and genders. Problem is, and this is what the investigation is looking at, they didn’t tell anyone or ask their permission.
If a mall is using tech to identify my sex and approximate my age, I’d prefer to be asked first and be informed what they’re using that information for.
Some of the chatter on the News’ Facebook page suggested people shouldn’t be so naïve and should wake up to the fact our privacy has long since been lost to social media usage. But I accept such invasions are inevitable when I sign up for Facebook, SnapChat et al. I don’t, however, expect to be profiled electronically when out for a stroll through a mall.
Although, I’m not sure how ascertaining I’m a middle-aged male tells you much about what I may or may not buy? For all they know, I could be going to Claire’s Accessories or Aritzia for the latest gear? I know. But it’s possible.
As my first boss, Mr. Lee, always told me, with a furrowed brow, “It’s dangerous to presume, Alan. Never presume.”
It is, as Mr. Lee, warned, a slippery slope to presume I’ve consented in some way to being “facially recognized.”
And if facial recognition tech and using its data is deemed by the privacy commissioner to be legal, where do we draw the line? In a decade’s time, am I going to be tracked by my face if I go to the liquor store more than once a week?
“There goes alcoholic Alan, hit him with some ads.”
We can argue to the end of the day the pros and cons of the tech and whether or not it’ll make for a better “shopping experience.” But what it comes down to is “knowledge” of what you’re entering into and “consent” for it to proceed.
Once those mechanisms are in place, shopping malls can recognize away and put as many names to faces as they want.
It’s unlikely to be mine.
