Hello, Krotor. It looks like rain and we see you are not carrying an umbrella today. Turn left in 25 feet, enter our shop, and get 15% off your purchase of a new umbrella.
No, it's not a new TV show of silly pranks. It's a potential massive invasion of your privacy by retailers and other corporate interests.
Ars Technica reported yesterday on a breakdown of tumultuous discussions between corporate retailers and privacy advocates regarding automated facial recognition of you, without your permission, anytime you are out in public. All of the representatives of privacy groups walked out in a huff when industry representatives refused to agree to any requirement that they ever seek consent before identifying people via hidden cameras and software algorithms.
The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) organized the talks which began over a year ago. Their goal is to "develop a voluntary, enforceable code of conduct that specifies how the Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights applies to facial recognition technology in the commercial context.”
One of the reasons given by industry for capturing images and identifying the person without consent is that the individual could be a shoplifter (and presumably would never consent). Unsaid is the opposite reason: the individual could be a potential customer, whose financial and spending data is already in massive corporate databases, so retailers could target him or her at points of proximity and opportunity.
There have been brouhahas about Facebook, Google, and other social media sites using facial recognition for photo tagging without people's permission. But I doubt that many of you ever considered the idea that you could be tagged walking down the street so that a retailer could either bolt the doors against you (if you had a criminal record) or send you a text message inviting you inside to buy some overstocked crap they want to get rid of.
Imagine the panopticon world of the facial recognition future. Undoubtedly entrepreneurs would realize the advantage of linking their camera feeds and software into networks to consolidate their photo, location and activity data about your life to sell to others. So, just think how efficient and useful this corporate surveillance can be for you:
- As you duck into a strip club, Floral World texts you a special offer on flowers, assuming you had or will have a spat with your wife (yes, they know you're married and not gay so they won't anger Yahweh with their discount offer).
- Corporate Camera captures you getting pulled over by a cop after the bars close; you'll receive a list of sponsored DUI classes and drunk driving attorneys.
- Caught on cam entering Planned Parenthood? You'll receive a scathing text message telling you that you will burn in hell for murdering your unborn child; as a special bonus, Our-Right-To-Your-Life will send hard copies to your home and office, so family and co-workers will know what you were doing.
Everything you do and everywhere you go will be stored forever in corporate databases. At that point, the NSA may as well switch off most of their gear and simply subscribe to the commercial services to get their surveillance data.
For 66 years, since Nineteen Eighty-Four was published in 1949, we've worried about having our lives monitored by some kind of Big Brother-ish overarching government surveillance program. Now it turns out that Big Brother will really be a consortium of ubiquitous Big Box stores. Who would have guessed?