Amazon is being accused in a lawsuit filed recently of not properly notify customers of its Amazon Go stores in New York City that the tech giant was tracking and collecting their biometric data.
A story published by CBS News gives a little background:
The lawsuit claims that the e-commerce giant violated a New York City law passed in early 2021 which requires businesses that are collecting, storing or sharing “biometric identifier information” to post signage near their entrances alerting customers that they are doing so.
The lawsuit was filed Thursday in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York on behalf of shopper Alfredo Rodriguez Perez.
Amazon Go stores are a chain of cashierless convenience stores operated by Amazon.com. These stores allow customers to enter the store, pick up the products they want, and walk out without having to wait in a checkout line or scan their items. The stores use a combination of computer vision, sensor fusion, and deep-learning technologies to automatically detect what products customers take off the shelves and then charge their Amazon account accordingly.
The first Amazon Go store opened to the public in Seattle in January 2018, and the company has since expanded the concept to several other locations in the United States and United Kingdom.