this post was submitted on 18 Sep 2023
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Privacy
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Of course theft is bad, but is eroding privacy the necessary evil to solve the problem?
In the US (I couldn't find UK numbers but don't know where to look), the National Retail Federation's 2022 security report did find external theft is the biggest cause of shrink at 37% while theft of inventory by employees and loss of inventory by corporate mismanagement adding up to 54%. ^[1]^ If companies are losing more inventory through their own mismanagement than they are from people coming into the store and stealing, should this technology be the priority?
Really, if anything is the take away from the report (this is probably more US specific and not as applicable in the UK), it's that there has been an increase in violence and aggression in their stores over the last couple years. With regards to the always running facial recognition, I don't see how that will make a significant impact of violence and organized retail crime.
Obviously retail in the UK is going to be different, but this technology seems to be best suited for non-violent shoplifters, and that might not actually be a whole lot in the grand scheme of things, especially to warrant draconian measures.
^[1]^ https://cdn.nrf.com/sites/default/files/2022-09/National%20Retail%20Security%20Survey%20Organized%20Retail%20Crime%202022.pdf