![]() ![]() But if similar systems turn up in every retail store, companies will be tempted to use them for more than security.įor instance, they might teach them to recognize regular customers, track their movements through the store, maybe even install shelf-mounted video displays that would tempt them with special offers. If you’re a law-abiding citizen, this might not bother you. Target tested a system last summer that compares shoppers’ faces with photographs of known shoplifters. But Crockford worries that if consumers tolerate this level of face-scanning, retailers will try to introduce even more intrusive features, sooner or later. ![]() Neither does it use facial-identification software to figure out who you are. Cooler Screens insists it does not store any of the captured video data. “I do not want to live in a world where every place I go my face, my voice, my iris, my body - everything about me - is being catalogued,” she said. “What is the machine going to tell me - that I’m a woman or a man?” she mused.īut Crockford is more troubled by the precedent the new system will set. Maybe that particular sixtyish-looking woman would rather chug 40 ounces of malt liquor than a pint of iced tea.įor that matter, could the computer even be certain about sex? Kade Crockford, director of the Technology for Liberty program at the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts, identifies as non-binary. If all you know about someone is age and sex, you’ll probably fall back on some pretty crude stereotypes. But there’s ample room for other forms of bias. Happily, there’s nothing about ethnic or racial profiling. The Cool Screens website states that the company’s software judges people based on age and sex. It’s clever, but also more than a little creepy. The system looks them over and decides what sort of person they are, and what they might want to buy. Users don’t log onto Cooler Screens they just show up. But with Facebook and Google, you make the choice to log on, knowing full well they’re tracking you. It’s a way for brick-and-mortar retailers to engage in the same kind of targeted marketing that’s generating billions of dollars for companies like Facebook and Google. They’re generic, aimed at everybody in the store. Aerva ads are like the commercials on broadcast TV.
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