"Anonymous" Video Analytics

[violsva]

So. Cadillac-Fairview malls use digital information kiosks to show you store locations, which are poor design compared to just using a goddamn map. Only one person can use them at a time, they require you to touch the screen, they take longer, you can't see the whole mall at a glance, etc. I have been generally annoyed by them for the past year or so as I go to job locations in various malls that I haven't visited before. But they were just annoying, and poor design, and a bad idea during a pandemic. Fine. Pretty much everything is these days.

Turns out they can also be used to nonconsensually collect biometric information. Which CF was then storing in a third-party database. Or, CF claims, the third party was continuing to store them without their knowledge. That's not a defense.

The cameras were deactivated in 2018 when the government started investigating. Cadillac Fairview refused to "commit to ensuring express, meaningful consent is obtained from shoppers should it choose to redeploy the technology in the future."

Comments

[oracne]

WHOA.

[rmc28]

That's awful