Wegmans grocery stores in New York City have reportedly begun scanning the faces, eyes, and voices of each entering customer — and has yet to clarify if it plans to bring that same technology to Central New York. Small signs announcing the new biometric data collection technology appeared this month in Manhattan and Brooklyn Wegmans locations, according to the Gothamist.  The signs state that Wegmans “… collects, retains, converts, stores or shares biometric identifier information which may include: facial recognition, eye scans, voiceprints.” The Rochester-based grocery chain, which owns over 100 stores across 9 states and Washington, D.C., confirmed in a subsequent statement that it has introduced the scanning technology in select stores that “exhibit an elevated risk.” The statement claimed the store did not collect “retinal scans or voice prints,” though the signs posted in the select New York City locations referenced voiceprints. Wegmans did not respond to questions from a Central Current reporter. In a statement provided by Deana Percassi, the company’s vice president of community engagement and communications, the store acknowledged concerns about “fairness and bias” in facial recognition systems, which some experts have long warned is prone to error and discrimination. “We employ a multitude of training and safety measures to help keep people safe. Facial recognition technology serves as one investigative lead for us. We never base our decisions on a single lead alone,” the statement reads. “ Our goal is simple — to keep our stores safe and secure.” After hearing about Wegmans’ new facial recognition while walking into Wegmans’ East Syracuse location, shopper Melanie Martin said she would stop shopping at Wegmans if it introduces facial recognition and biometric software to its Central New York locations.  Martin said she avoids TSA’s “Clear” line — an expedited security check option that can include eye scans — and wouldn’t choose to give that information to a grocery store. “I just think that it’s an overreach,” Martin said. “Again, I just don’t like the idea that you don’t know what’s happening to the information. They’re storing it for an indefinite period of time, we have no idea if it’s going to be data-mined. There’s not any permissions.” Privacy advocates condemned Wegmans’ shift toward surveillance and encouraged state lawmakers to enact protections against biometric-scanning tools. Daniel Schwarz, senior privacy and technology strategist at the New York Civil Liberties Union, called the facial recognition technology “highly erroneous” and raises privacy concerns for customers. Schwarz in 2024 submitted testimony to the New York City Council advocating for prohibitions against biometric surveillance in places of public accommodation and residential housing. “This technology lets Wegmans watch, track, and collect highly personal information about your every move in their store — defying basic Constitutional principles and making it possible for them to misidentify, wrongly remove, or even ban people from stores,” Schwarz said. The Surveillance Technology Oversight Project heaped on criticism, arguing Wegmans was exposing both its employee and customer data winding up in the hands of hackers, unauthorized law enforcement officers, or U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. ICE agents are already making use of their own facial recognition software to collect biometric data on noncitizens and citizens alike. “The Wegmans hype isn’t worth handing over your face,” said Will Owen, communications director at STOP. Schwarz and Owen said Wegmans’ new surveillance tools could be banned under a bill, sponsored by State Senator Rachel May, currently in the New York State Legislature. Similar legislation seeks to ban law enforcement, landlords, and schools from using biometric surveillance and facial recognition. An advocacy called Ban the Scan created a guide to biometric-related legislation in New York City and New York state. Monroe County Legislator Rachel Barnhart on Sunday posted a letter on Facebook addressed to the Wegman family and criticizing the company for lacking a “meaningful, in-store” disclosure of its biometric surveillance.  Barnhart requested the Wegmans respond to her letter and answer a list of questions, including whether that same biometric information is currently in use in stores beyond New York City. In Syracuse, Common Councilor Corey Williams said the move adds complexity for policymakers looking to regulate surveillance technology in the public sector, who now must consider similar development in the private sector. “We’ve known for a long time that our ability to legislate doesn’t keep pace with the evolution and proliferation of surveillance technologies,” Williams said. “It should be an opportunity for all of us to reflect upon what we want to see within our communities, and how we need to deal with it.” Former Mayor Ben Walsh established a ban on facial recognition and biometric scanning software in his 2021 Surveillance Technology Executive Order. Since then, advocates like Schwarz called on the mayor or Common Council to codify that prohibition into city law to prevent future lawmakers from repealing it, but to no avail. Wegmans doesn’t have any locations within city limits, but the grocery chain has three stores bordering Syracuse and five more in surrounding suburbs. Sophia Suriano, a shopper visiting one of those locations on Monday, said Wegmans and other companies appear to be investing in new technology to capitalize on the hype around the AI industry, but failing to consider the “side effects” such tools can have on customers. “I don’t think everybody needs to be filmed, I feel like that’s a lot of data just being amassed that doesn’t need to be amassed,” Suriano said. “It doesn’t make anyone feel safer, it just makes us feel watched. It doesn’t assure me anything, it just feels like Big Brother.” The post Wegmans added facial recognition technology to NYC stores, won’t say if it plans the same for Central New York stores appeared first on Central Current. ...read more read less