The Southern Co-Op chain is facing a legal challenge over its use of facial recognition technology to fight crime.
Big Brother Watch has complained to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) about biometric cameras in its stores.
The privacy campaign group says the system in the convenience stores violates privacy and people may end up on a watch list without knowing it.
But Southern says it only uses the Facewatch system in stores with a history of crime to protect its employees.
The cooperative operates 200 convenience stores across southern England, 35 of which have installed the system.
A single camera captures the faces of people entering the stores and the images are analyzed and converted into biometric data.
This is then compared to a database of people the cooperative says have stolen from their stores or been violent.
A spokeswoman said the watch list is not a list of people with criminal convictions, but of people for whom the company has evidence of criminal or antisocial behavior.
Any previously blocked buyer would be asked to leave the house, and others would be approached by staff with an offer, “How can I help?”. to make it clear that their presence had been detected.
Big Brother Watch has challenged the legality of the system in a submission to the ICO shared with the BBC.
The group says the biometric scans are “extremely Orwellian.”
“The supermarket adds customers to secret watch lists without due process, which means shoppers can be spied on, blacklisted in multiple stores and denied grocery shopping despite being completely innocent,” said Silkie Carlo, director of Big Brother Watch.
“This is a deeply unethical and frankly terrifying way for any company to behave.”
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The complaint to the ICO alleges the system violates privacy laws because the information is processed in a way that is disproportionate to the need to prevent crime.
Big Brother Watch argues that facial recognition is “privacy invading” in general and “very intrusive” for individuals whose data is on the watchlist.
This is not justified because the crime prevention system is not necessary, it said.
“It doesn’t bring felons to justice … it doesn’t protect the public from harm in any meaningful way,” the complaint said.
“At best, it drives out crime and enables individual companies to keep ‘undesirables’ out of their businesses and move them elsewhere.”
The data produced by the facial recognition cameras is deleted after being checked against the watch list, but the original image is retained for 72 hours in case a person later breaks the law or becomes violent.
Southern Co-Op said it would welcome any “constructive feedback” from the information commissioner.
“We take our responsibilities around the use of facial recognition very seriously and work hard to balance the rights of our customers with the need to protect our colleagues and customers from unacceptable violence and abuse,” it said.
“The safety of our colleagues and customers is paramount and this technology has made a significant difference in the limited number of high-risk sites where it is deployed.
“The signage is posted in the relevant shops. As long as she continues to prevent violent attacks, we believe her use is justified.”
The cameras will be used in Southern Co-Op stores in cities including Portsmouth, Southampton, Bristol, Bournemouth, Hove, Croydon and Chichester.
Facewatch also supplies the biometric cameras to Costcutter, Sports Direct, Spar, Nisa and the Frasers Group.
The security systems company said: “Facial recognition can be used where needed as other crime prevention methods such as police, CCTV and manned guarding have tried and failed.
“Any invasion of privacy is minimal and proportionate. Facewatch has proven effective in preventing crime, and our customers experience a significant reduction in crime.”
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