Frozen supermarket chain deploys facial recognition tech
- Reference: 1750926606
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2025/06/26/iceland_facial_recognition/
- Source link:
The pilot is already in operation at two stores in England: the Food Warehouse outlet in Manningham Lane, Bradford, and an Iceland shop in Salford, Greater Manchester. A further four branches are to be added to the roster by October with even more to come.
The FRT is provided by Facewatch and currently deployed by other retailers including House of Fraser, Sports Direct, and Home Bargains. The camera is hooked up to a database of people suspected of committing a crime on previous visits to any Facewatch customer's stores.
UK's first permanent facial recognition cameras installed in South London [1]READ MORE
If a suspect is spotted, employees at the stores are notified. The face of the shopper is deleted if a match is not made with the images of suspects that the retailers have previously uploaded.
Iceland CEO Richard Walker [2]claimed on LinkedIn that he will "do anything and everything to help protect our customers."
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"Organized and targeted retail crime is out of control. Every single week I see the reports from our stores and read about our colleagues being abused, threatened, and assaulted simply for doing their job," he added.
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He said the technology does "not monitor innocent shoppers. It does not store your data. It helps trained store teams calmly identify repeat offenders who are known to use violence or intimidation. That is it."
Iceland is estimating a 30 percent reduction in violent incidents. According to the CEO, theft and damage drive up prices, hitting the "most vulnerable customers hardest."
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Jake Hurfurt, head of research and investigations at Big Brother Watch, [7]said :
Iceland's decision to deploy dystopian facial recognition technology to monitor its customers is disproportionate and chilling. Thousands of people will have their privacy rights violated just to buy basic necessities, and Iceland will turn its shoppers into suspects, making them submit to a biometric identity check as part of their daily lives.
The campaign group pointed to an [8]incident reported earlier this month when a shopper was blacklisted in a store that uses Facewatch after being wrongly accused of stealing paracetamol. She was asked to leave the store the next time she returned, and subsequently complained to the ICO.
[9]Smile! UK cops spend tens of millions on live facial recognition tech
[10]Ryanair faces GDPR turbulence over customer ID checks
[11]Keir Starmer says facial recognition tech is the answer to far-right riots
[12]UK lawmakers say live facial recognition lacks a legal basis
"Facial recognition has no basis in law and has never been voted on in Parliament, but the UK is facing an explosion in the Orwellian technology as both businesses and police take advantage of a legal wild west. Iceland should abandon this rollout and put its customers' privacy first, and the government must act to rein in the unchecked expansion of this intrusive technology," Hurfurt added.
Walker at Iceland agreed that "some people will not like" the use of FRT, "but I make zero apologies for it," he said in response to Big Brother Watch.
"If I have to choose between upsetting a campaign group or protecting our colleagues from violence, I will pick our people every time," he added.
Facewatch CEO Nick Fisher, commenting on Walker's LinkedIn post, said: "We are proud to stand with responsible retailers like Iceland and the many other partners who have placed their trust in Facewatch, as we work together to keep our frontline retail colleagues safe and protected in these unprecedented times."
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A spokesperson for the Information Commissioner's Office told us:
"Facial recognition technology (FRT) can help retailers detect and prevent crime and has clear benefits in the public interest. However, its use must be necessary and proportionate, and these benefits must not outweigh people’s fundamental right to privacy.
"All retailers should carefully consider any use of FRT on their premises and ensure compliance with data protection law. The right checks and balances must be in place to ensure the accuracy and integrity of the personal information they collect. We continue to monitor the use of FRT across the economy to ensure it remains lawful, transparent and proportionate." ®
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[1] https://www.theregister.com/2025/03/27/uk_facial_recognition/
[2] https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7343262891002765313/?commentUrn=urn%3Ali%3Acomment%3A(activity%3A7343262891002765313%2C7343267945080365056)&dashCommentUrn=urn%3Ali%3Afsd_comment%3A(7343267945080365056%2Curn%3Ali%3Aactivity%3A7343262891002765313)
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_security/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2aF0aNGalzlvzusCQbekQAQAAAoQ&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_security/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aF0aNGalzlvzusCQbekQAQAAAoQ&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_security/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33aF0aNGalzlvzusCQbekQAQAAAoQ&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_security/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aF0aNGalzlvzusCQbekQAQAAAoQ&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[7] https://bigbrotherwatch.org.uk/press-releases/big-brother-watch-condemns-icelands-facial-recognition-rollout/
[8] https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/jun/06/shopper-facewatch-watchlist-39p-paracetamol-london
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2024/11/25/uk_police_lfr_tender/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2024/10/05/irish_dpc_ryanair_probe/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2024/08/05/keir_starmer_facial_recognition/
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2024/01/30/uk_law_makers_say_live/
[13] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_security/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33aF0aNGalzlvzusCQbekQAQAAAoQ&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[14] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
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This isn’t crime prevention - it’s what happens when a state in decline outsources policing to the private sector. Retailers turning to biometric surveillance because public services can’t cope, all while we’re paying the highest tax burden in living memory. It’s not innovation - it’s collapse management. When supermarkets start doing police work, it’s not just dystopian. It’s the end of the social contract.
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Unfortunately if the police did return to supermarkets, then it would [1]also be in the form of facial recognition cameras .
[1] https://www.theregister.com/2025/03/27/uk_facial_recognition/
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Supermarkets have always employed private security. I don't think that the police remit has ever covered internal security in private businesses.
What we really have here is an outsourcing of human jobs to large unaccountable global firms and removing any nuance and flexibility from the system.
In the US they use the police to protect the likes of Walmart and this is how people end up getting shot in the carpark.
And the UK police are busy ensuring that no-one posts hurty words on the internet that might cause someone with blue hair to have the anxieties.
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" cause someone with blue hair to have the anxieties. "
I suspect the only person causing Marge real anxiety is Homer.
Could solve that particular problem in the UK by the usual recourse by outlawing blue hair dye.
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Your comment was spot on until the bullshit in the last line. Incitement to murder is not "hurty words"
FRT
From now on I will be referring to it as "fart"
There's nothing like treating everyone as a suspect to build brand loyalty. A mass boycott might get their attention.
I hope these stores publicise they're using 'FaRT' at their store entrances so customers can choose to enter or shop elsewhere.
Another place to avoid
not that I've been to one of their outlets for 20+ years.
I hope that the location of these cameras are made public and no one visits the shops.
There are plenty of videos on YouTube about how to fool these systems. I'd watch them unless you have a lawyer on speed dial who is ready to sue the shops/cops for invalid arrest.
I wonder how well this system would recognise my eyes/glasses and hair, because the rest of my face is under a (rotating set of designs) mask when I'm in store...
Hmm
'He said the technology does "not monitor innocent shoppers. It does not store your data."'
Well the first is obviously untrue - it monitors everyone because that's the way these things work. 'Innocent' is an output after you've been monitored. The only thing I'm slightly unclear on is whether it's a gate type system on entry/exit or store wide monitoring.
As for not storing your data - really? The data goes in and I only have their word about what elements it might retain and for how long. It's obviously capable of storing some sort of data for some period otherwise it wouldn't have anything for comparison or for reporting.
I can understand some of the motives for the CEO but the attitude in the statements is a bit too confrontational; when you're in that zone all sorts of things become apparently justifiable when they wouldn't under more considered thought.
Iceland has violent crime ?
Now that's news.
It's not like criminals there can cross state borders, now is it ?
I would think an "unfortunate" detour by a volcano would solve the problem . . .