An investigation has found that four Canadian Tire (TSX: CTC) (TSX: CTC.A) stores in British Columbia used facial recognition technology (FRT) between 2018 and 2021 to collect customers’ biometric information, which contravened the Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA).
According to a Thursday press release, the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner learned that 12 Canadian Tire stores in BC were using FRT after media reports suggested that some stores used it to reduce shoplifting.
The facial recognition system (FRT) uses video surveillance that covers almost the entire store, including entrances, exits, checkouts, retail floor, and store parking lots, and uses images and video gathered of customers to compare their faces to a stored database of previously flagged persons of interest.
“FRT can get things wrong, incorrectly matching a captured face with a comparative database. That is especially true when it comes to people of colour and minorities,” said Commissioner Michael McEvoy said in the report, Information and Privacy Commissioner for B.C.
Read more: Canada’s privacy watchdog launches investigation into OpenAI
Read more: Opera expands privacy features on VPN service
Stores failed to notify customers that facial recognition was in use
The investigation revealed that the stores did not properly notify customers that FRT was in use, failed to demonstrate a reasonable purpose for using FRT, and did not obtain consent from customers.
The commissioner selected four stores for investigation and found that all 12 stores had removed their FRT systems after the investigation began.
“The biometric information captured by FRT systems – the precise and unique mathematical rendering of your face – is highly sensitive,” said McEvoy.
“Retailers, like the ones in this case, would have to present a highly compelling case to demonstrate such collection would be reasonable.”
However, because the stores promptly removed their FRT systems and destroyed associated personal information when the investigation began, the report only recommends that the stores create and maintain robust privacy management programs.
The report makes two recommendations aimed at the BC government. The first recommendation is to amend the Security Services Act or similar enactments to explicitly regulate the sale or installation of technologies that capture biometric information.
The second recommendation is to amend the Personal Information Protection Act to create additional obligations for organizations that deploy biometric technologies, such as requiring notification to the OIPC. These requirements would harmonize BC with other jurisdictions that have biometric legislation.
Canadian Tire shares were up $0.52 on Friday and closed at $183 on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
.
Follow Joseph Morton on Twitter
joseph@mugglehead.com
