Rite Aid Facial Recognition Ban
System Description
AI-powered facial recognition surveillance system deployed in hundreds of retail pharmacy locations
Authoritative Output Type
Shoplifter identification alerts triggering employee intervention, surveillance, and potential police contact
Missing Required State
Image quality thresholds, confidence score minimums, demographic bias testing, false positive rate monitoring
Why This Is SAF
System generated match alerts from low-quality images without accuracy testing, leading to thousands of false positives that disproportionately affected Black, Asian, Latino, and women customers
Completeness Gate Question
Does this match meet minimum confidence thresholds and has the system been validated for accuracy across demographic groups?
Documented Consequence
5-year ban on facial recognition use, required deletion of biometric data and AI models, FTC complaint filed, data disgorgement ordered
Primary Sources
Notes
- **Verified**: 2025-12-19 - **Ftc Action Date**: December 19, 2023 - **Ban Duration Years**: 5
Prevent this in your system.
The completeness gate question above is exactly what Ontic checks before any claim gets out. No evidence, no emission.