FTC’s Rite Aid Ruling Rightly Renews Scrutiny of Face Recognition

The Federal Trade Commission on Tuesday announced action against the pharmacy chain Rite Aid for its use of face recognition technology in hundreds of stores. The regulator found that Rite Aid deployed a massive, error-riddled surveillance program, chose vendors that could not properly safeguard the personal data the chain hoarded, and attempted to keep it all under wraps. Under a proposed settlement, Rite Aid can't operate a face recognition system in any of its stores for five years.

EFF advocates …