Settlement · 19 December 2023
FTC v. Rite Aid (facial recognition)
FTC v. Rite Aid Corp., No. 2:23-cv-5023 (E.D. Pa.), order December 2023 · Federal Trade Commission
What it means for your code
Shipping a biometric or AI identification feature requires pre-deployment accuracy and bias testing, monitoring and a way for people to contest matches.
What happened
Rite Aid deployed AI facial-recognition surveillance in stores that generated many false-positive matches, disproportionately affecting women and people of colour.
What was decided
Deploying facial recognition without reasonable safeguards against foreseeable harm was an unfair practice; Rite Aid was banned from using facial-recognition surveillance for five years.
⚖ Five-year ban on facial-recognition surveillance
The legal test applied
- Deploying AI surveillance without reasonable measures against foreseeable harm — accuracy testing, bias assessment, monitoring — is unfair
Summary and analysis by Lawpatch, checked by an editor against the source. Risk analysis, not legal advice; the law may have moved on since this decision.