Asda faces legal complaint after “unlawful” facial recognition trial

• • Privacy campaigners have filed a legal complaint with the data regulator, stating concerns that the trial of live facial recognition in five Greater Manchester stores is “unlawful” and “chilling”
  • Big Brother Watch also sent the world’s largest digital ad van to tour the stores, warning shoppers that Asda is “rolling back your privacy”

Privacy rights group Big Brother Watch has filed a legal complaint with the Information Commissioner, arguing that Asda’s use of live facial recognition cameras in its supermarkets is “unlawful”. The legal complaint claims that Asda “is infringing the data rights” of shoppers and calls on the Commissioner to halt the retailer’s use of the technology.

The legal complaint outlines how the system, sold by surveillance firm FaiceTech, is processing “data with a high degree of risk to data subjects’ rights for private benefit”. The supermarket chain has installed the controversial surveillance technology in five stores in Ashton-Under-Lyne, Chadderton, Eastlands, Harpurhey and Trafford Park as part of a trial. Asda is the first UK-wide supermarket to install live facial recognition.

In the legal complaint, Big Brother Watch argues that this biometric surveillance poses “significant” risks to shoppers’ rights and freedoms.

The privacy NGO also sent the world’s largest digital ad van to tour the five stores that are trialling facial recognition, warning shoppers that Asda is “rolling back your privacy” (see images below).

Supermarket staff can add individuals to the facial recognition watchlist, marking them as a “person of interest”. Shoppers are not informed if their facial biometric data, similar to the data held on modern passports, is stored or added to the supermarket’s watchlist.

According to Asda’s privacy policy, staff do not receive or give photos from or to the police. Rather, the supermarket uses the biometric profiles of certain shoppers to create an alert if they enter a store and shares these profiles, along with allegations of unwanted conduct, between stores. Big Brother Watch’s complaint states that Asda’s facial recognition would have a “profound impact on the data rights of tens of millions of people” if rolled out across Asda’s stores across the UK.

Other retailers have faced legal complaints over their use of live facial recognition. Live facial recognition installed in a Manchester Home Bargains shop wrongly flagged 19-year-old “Sara” (not her real name) as a suspected shoplifter. Home Bargains employees searched Sara, publicly threw her out of the store, and falsely accused her of being a thief – which Big Brother Watch has called “disturbing” and a “total inversion of [the] most basic civil liberties.”

Live facial recognition has been the subject of growing controversy in recent years, with moves in the US and EU to ban its use for public surveillance. Research shows that the technology can be highly inaccurate, particularly with people of colour and women.

COMMENT:

Madeleine Stone, Senior Advocacy Officer at Big Brother Watch said:

“Asda’s decision to trial Orwellian facial recognition technology in its shops is deeply disproportionate and chilling, and risks violating the privacy rights of thousands of people. Facial recognition surveillance turns shoppers into suspects by subjecting customers browsing the supermarket aisles to a series of invasive biometric identity checks.

We believe Asda’s use of live facial recognition surveillance is likely to be unlawful, and have filed this legal complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office, urging the data regulator to investigate and urgently halt Asda’s trial.

Facial recognition is inaccurate and dangerously out of control in the UK. Its use is proliferating across police forces and the private sector alike, all with no specific legislative basis. Asda should abandon this trial and the government must urgently step in to prevent the unchecked spread of this invasive technology.”

NOTES:

• The ‘world’s largest digital ad van’ will be travelling between Asda stores in Ashton-Under-Lyne, Chadderton, Eastlands, Harpurhey and Trafford Park from 12:30pm onwards on 20 May 2025
• Spokespeople are available for interview. Please direct enquiries or requests for interviews to info@bigbrotherwatch.org.uk or 07730439257

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Source: https://bigbrotherwatch.org.uk/press-releases/asda-faces-legal-complaint-after-unlawful-facial-recognition-trial/