Rite Aid Wasn’t Right in Using Face Recognition

Rite Aid had to agree to stop using facial recognition systems for five years and to delete its stored biometric information and associated artificial intelligence models in order to settle FTC claims that the pharmacy chain failed to take reasonable measures to protect consumers from its use of facial recognition technology. In particular, Rite Aid had failed to “take steps to assess or address risks that its . . . [the] technology would disproportionately harm consumers because of their race, gender, or other demographic characteristics” which led to thousands of false positives. It was found to be “more commonly in stores in neighborhoods with large Black and Asian populations than with white ones.” There was significant negative press about the company’s failure to adequately protect its customers, with articles highlighting the chain’s  “‘reckless’ failure to adopt safeguards” and disproportionate effect on people of color.