Earlier this month, a small sign at Wegmans in Brooklyn set off a flurry of questions that has pushed the grocery chain to the center of a growing debate about privacy and technology.
“We are piloting a facial recognition program with a small group of employees at this location,” it reads. “All related information collected of those not in our pilot will be deleted from the piloted technology.”
If you missed the sign, you might not even know that the store is implementing facial recognition technology to gather people’s biometric data — body measurements and calculations that can be used to identify individuals. A spokesperson said the store is piloting it to “enhance the physical safety of our people and our customers.” Facial recognition software will be applied “in a manner to test recognition only of employees who have agreed to participate in the 60-day pilot,” the spokesperson said. The program started in early October. Wegmans did not share additional details about what company they’re using, where the cameras are in the store, or what they’re doing with data in the pilot program.
But among many New Yorkers, the sign raises questions as to why it has been implemented and whether it marks the beginning of dynamic pricing — the practice of varying the price for a product depending on demand, or even from person-to-person — that chains like Kroger and Walmart may be toying with around the country.
Members of Congress sent letters to Kroger in August asking whether it would use digital price tags (also called electronic price labels or ESLs) “to raise prices when it sees fit in order to maximize profit” — like during peak shopping times or bad weather, the New York Times reported.
When asked whether the store is using dynamic pricing, a Wegmans spokesperson said they aren’t and pointed to its pricing policies. “We match within pennies against the competition on items families use every week so you can enjoy quality, healthy food on a budget,” it reads.
Social media platform X shows that people are concerned about use of the technology where they shop. A post on X from Gothamist’s Liam Quigley with a photo of the Wegmans sign has more than 80,000 views so far.
“That’s my local @Wegmans,” one person replied. “Won’t be going there any longer; not interested in a business that goes to this invasive length with employees. Just because the tech exists doesn’t mean people/employers have to abuse it this way.” Lots of responders suggested wearing a mask to avoid cameras.
Legal issues
Citing privacy concerns, New York officials have passed laws regulating facial recognition software. In 2021, New York state passed a law that requires businesses to be transparent by posting signs alerting consumers about tracking biometric information. And in 2023, when Amazon didn’t follow this law, the company was sued for not telling Amazon Go customers in New York that the company was tracking their biometrics.
In addition to passing the Biometric Privacy Act in 2021, New York state lawmakers have proposed two new pieces of legislation to ban facial recognition and biometric technology at public venues and residential buildings.
New York City council members have taken a stand on the issue in years prior to the Wegmans pilot. Councilmember Shahana Hanif of District 39 in Brooklyn — which includes parts of Kensington, Borough Park, Windsor Terrace, Park Slope, Gowanus, Carroll Gardens, Cobble Hill, Boerum Hill, and the Columbia Waterfront — pointed out that facial recognition technology and cameras can disproportionately impact BIPOC and working class communities. “We must speak up against these attacks on everyday people,” she said.
Carlina Rivera, who represents the Second Council District — which includes Greenwich Village, the Lower East Side, the East Village, Midtown South, Flatiron, Union Square, Gramercy, and Murray Hill-Kips Bay — echoed this sentiment. “Facial recognition and biometric systems open the door for discrimination and harassment.”
In April, the Metropolitan Transit Authority was barred from using facial recognition to catch fare evaders, the New York Post reported. The ban was added to the state’s budget.
What happens when facial recognition is linked to dynamic pricing?
Using facial recognition software in retail settings can have broader, controversial implications — particularly when it’s combined with other technology like electronic shelf labels (ESLs).
Major retailers like Walmart and Kroger, for example, have already implemented ESLs on shelves, which allows stores to create rapid price adjustments. This capability, also known as dynamic pricing, becomes considerably more powerful — and potentially problematic — when it is paired with facial recognition technology.
Kroger recently faced backlash after the grocery store announced its plans to use in-store cameras for facial recognition. Critics, including Detroit Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib, have expressed concern about the grocery store using facial recognition technology to monitor customers, fearing that the company will use the technology for potential discriminatory practices and price gouging.
In a letter to Kroger, Tlaib stated, “Families across the country are struggling to keep up with rising prices, and there’s a growing concern about how technology like facial recognition and behavioral tracking are driving our unaffordability crisis.” She focused on her state of Michigan, which has 120 grocery stores across 82 cities in the state, adding, “My concern is that these tools will be abused in the pursuit of profit, surging prices on essential goods in areas with fewer and fewer grocery stores.” She added, “Facial recognition technology is often discriminatory and shouldn’t be used in grocery stores to price gouge residents.”
Encroaching technology
Outside of grocery stores, the highest profile examples of facial recognition have been at Madison Square Garden, the Beacon Theater, and Radio City Music Hall run by CEO James L. Dolan. When personal injury lawyer Kelly Conlon chaperoned a Girl Scout trip to see the Rockettes at Radio City in 2022, guards told her she was on an “attorney exclusion list,” and wasn’t allowed in the building. When she was nabbed, they knew who she was and where she worked, she told the New York Times. “They knew the name of my law firm.” The article revealed how a New York landmark uses facial recognition to “ban its owners enemies.”
The NYPD has also been using facial recognition technology since 2011 for “to identify suspects whose images have been captured by cameras at robberies, burglaries, assaults, shootings, and other crimes,” reads its FAQ website. For now, the website claims, “No one has ever been arrested solely based on a facial recognition search.”
Alexis Benveniste is a Brooklyn-based writer and editor who covers food, culture, business, and travel. Her work has been featured in the New York Times, the Washington Post, Bloomberg and the Michelin Guide.
