Foodstuffs North Island, which owns New World, Pak’nSave and Four Square supermarkets is using ” facial recognition technology (FRT) in 29 of its stores.
Consumer NZ said they are “seriously concerned” that New Zealanders are having their sensitive biometric information collected and analysed while they go about their shopping.
FRT involves the identification of a person based on an analysis of their facial features. Artificial intelligence programs identify and map facial features to create a faceprint, which is compared to those on a database to find a match.
Foodstuffs’ use of FRT was first brought to light in 2018 when it was theorised the technology mistakingly identified a man as being a shoplifter in a Dunedin supermarket.
It is vital that all informed citizens steal from New World & Pak’nSave as a matter of civil disobedience.
They are a fucking supermarket, they doin’t need facial recognition technology and they don’t have the right to sell that data to any third party!
It’s the third party element that is most worrying as NZ Police could gain access to that feed as well!
The Police are admitting to falsifying evidence to gain access to powerful surveillance tools, but have changed the law to make these private security firms hand over to them live feed footage anyway so there is nothing to see here?
Police admit misuse of number plate-reading technology as surveillance powers increase
Police have admitted to a second case of their misusing number plate-reading cameras, at the same time as they have revealed they are expanding the cameras’ use.
They already check the cameras almost a thousand times a day within a surveillance web that has quietly expanded, that provides lots of footage – mostly of New Zealanders going about their lawful business, but also of crime.
Now the private CCTV companies are at pains to tell us that they don’t have face recognition software so them handing this live feed over to the Police shouldn’t freak any of us civil liberty activists out…
It did not install cameras, and did not provide live facial recognition (FR) systems or services, or send any FR content to police, though its retail partners might use FR, it said.
SaferCities said it was proud of its “collaboration with law enforcement, local government and other community-focused organisations” to keep people safe.
The CCTV and ANPR assets were owned and “shared” by the community, not the company, it said, adding it did not provide any FR services.
…but we already know that the NZ Police have Face recognition software, and they don’t need the private companies to provide them with that if they already have the programs that can scan the live feeds!
Right now, the NZ Police are using mass surveillance facial recognition software from an Orwellian company that illegally sources photos without any sign off from the Privacy Commissioner or their own Police Boss!
The Police then held a ‘stocktake’ of these types of unapproved face recognition software trials and lo and fucking behold the Police quietly admit to a $9million face recognition network they are setting up with zero oversight from the Privacy Commissioner???
Police setting up $9m facial recognition system which can identify people from CCTV feed
Police have been quietly setting up a $9 million facial recognition system that can take a live feed from CCTV cameras and identify people from it.
This would push New Zealand into new territory for tracking citizens.
It will be run by a non-police contractor – US firm Dataworks Plus – and collect 15,000 facial images a year, with that expected to expand up to 10-fold.
Their latest move is to create some fake watchdog panel over mass surveillance powers that no on gave them!
The duplicitous and underhand manner in which the NZ Police have quietly amassed a mass surveillance network alongside their constant abuse of power to get what they want is an incredibly dangerous combination for any State Agency to gain.
The assurances from private companies that CCTV footage won’t have race recognition software on them means nothing if the Police already have it and are simply taking the live feed and running their Face Recognition software on the live feed!
There is an enormous and quiet amassing of power here that TDB has been complaining about for over 2 years now.
Are the Police secretly gaining facial recognition mass surveillance powers without any of the checks and balances such invasive powers?
Because everything looks like it’s ready to implement.
The National Centre of Research Excellence for Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism could expand the number of people the State categorise as a threat and justify real time face recognition mass surveillance.
Because The National Centre of Research Excellence for Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism are staffed by woke warriors, the Left seem oblivious to the potential misuse ion these vast powers.
What happens if the appointed woke warriors, after providing political cover to expand vast mass surveillance over white supremacy Nazis get replaced if the Government changes?
Are we sure we know what level of power we are blithely handing over here?
A Police State starts with the promise of security, at least let’s agree that Supermarkets don’t need these tools!
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They’ve been using it for a while now and sharing the images of known criminals. They have every right to do so too as it’s private property not the public square. The easiest thing might just be to not steal. Perhaps it’s that there’s an obvious commonality amongst those shown on any supermarkets wall of shame that lies at the heart of the authors discomfort?
And what about the 99% of NZders who arent criminals who get surveilled and accused by these idiots? What is the penalty for them?
I don’t know, maybe in kindness tell the criminals to just be kind and stop the thieving? That seems to be the approach used now.
@ Yeti.
Your gibberish isn’t even any use as a logical fallacy. The supermarket duopoly cartel is less food pimps and more mafia. You see a camera? Fuck it up.
I’d suggest farmers markets. A great way to get rid of ill gotten cash. Give them a go.
FYI Farmers markets are by and for farmers who grow produce you can eat. I know! Crazy aye? It’s not supermarkets who materialise foods in trans-dimensional space-time, spacial warp, paddock realms in far, far , far away worlds run by cyborgs the portals to which are out in the car park during closing hours.
P.S. Giant Brain Yeti.
Speaking of theft… Supermarkets. Get their fresh foods for a pittance then charge $8 a cauliflower and that’s not theft?
No third parties have been implicated in Foodstuffs FRT setup, nor any indication they’ll be providing live feeds to police.
So long as foodstuffs follow privacy rules I see no problem with their use of FRT, this includes only retaining long term faceprints of people for the duration of their trespass and tightly controlling access to data.
What Police are doing is different – tracking everyones public movements and storing data offshore – and I see no need to throw Foodstuffs under the bus to condemn it.
While we’re on the subject of surveillance, did Auckland Police ever get permission to use the millions of dollars of drones they bought without permission?
mods. just because something isn’t said doesn’t mean it won’t happen do you really trust a duopoly that’s got it’s hand in your pocket—and not in a good way.
But.. but…the People want Safety.
Anything that makes them safer gets the tick at the ballot box and privacy be damned.
Yes, people want safety and not live in gangland. How dare they. Maybe just wear a mask when going to the supermarket. There your privacy issue fixed. And to think that not so long ago people scanned in everywhere and had a vaccine pass to get entry to shops. Won’t no one think about ‘privacy’.
100% Kiwi owned, it is all good then.
Not being spied by the other lot… yet.
Does that mean you can wear a balaclava in Pak N Save as you shop for your groceries should you object to having your face scanned without the necessary checks and balances ?
I would say theft has two faces. Number one the shoplifters and number two Foodstuffs and their exorbitant prices that includes a very generous margin.
If you wear a baseball cap, sunglasses and a surgical mask, it does a reasonable job of obscuring your identity, plus it will give you some increased protection from covid etc.
Agree mosa. In particular your second paragraph which begs the question, who is the biggest thief?
any data collected will be open to 5eyes…there is the argument that if you’re doing nothing wrong you have nothing to fear….but do you really want the world to know your anusol bulk buys?….I go in I exchange money for goods, that’s the extent of the relationship.
A privately owned supermarket chain will hand over data to the Five Eyes? What possible interest can the Five Eyes have in petty thieves?
yes all data is of interest to universal surveillance..it’s not the petty theives it’s ‘where was pope at 3 o’clock on wednesday?’
maybe now the anti mask nutters will mask up…now that would be ironic
Anonymity was always a good reason to mask up, chap. They’re at least somewhat effective for that.
No-one has explained how the facial recognition tech is supposed to increase safety and security. How will it stop theft and violence? As opposed to identifying offenders? We have eye-witnesses who can do that. Or CCTV cameras. There is no explanation that I can think of and some journalists should be pointing this out to the general public. Then we might get a little something for our $55 million investment in the PIJF.
Everyone just seems to accept…security???…safety??? What rot. It’s surveillance on a grand scale and what is the long term goal?
I guess you thought taking peoples rights away would end well. Reap what you sow anti freedom nutters.
What rights have been taken away? FRT is fully possible within existing privacy laws.
I don’t feel that facial recognition technology is necessary and when they can pass that data on to other supermarkets it becomes tricky with our privacy laws.
“and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.” This was written almost 2000 years ago & for most of my life people insisted that it could never happen, they are no longer certain about that.
Pak’nSave? Yuck!
I’m more of a Farro type of person myself
@ Andrew. Farro? Pa-lease. That’s where the pouche` go to avoid we, the beastly hoi polloi. You know the ones? The ones that Farro pouche`exploit.
I’m a vegetable garden type myself. I hang with my bird and wee beastie Ho’s. I’d rather that than run the risk of actually touching a lawyer, or God forbid, an accountant. I don’t even like breathing the same air as they do. One might catch greed, devious or fake. Farro Fresh’s where all the taught buttock’d, waxed and bleached perineum people go while begging to be photographed. Double Yuk.
If it’s not on video it didn’t happen. The sooner that NZ Police wear body cams (GoPro styles), the sooner we can hold their dirty corrupt selves to account. Body cams now on NZ Police.
I asked at Nelson New World and the employee said haven’t we had this for ages and pointed to the little camera lenses in the ceiling. I said that I thought it was a different, more detailed, sort of surveillance but it gets a bit much for me, trying to keep up with the latest machinations.
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