Technology

A lot of stores here in the UK already employ facial recognition if you walk in.

It stops known shoplifters throughout stores (so if you shoplifted in a Nottingham Tesco's, be prepared to be banned from Sainsbury's in Swansea), but it also tracks your shopping so it's being sold as a convenience feature - you walk up to a till and it already knows what's in your basket and how much you need to pay.

Oh and while you walk through the stores, you get targeted advettisements that's already connected to your online identity. You looked up symptoms of PCOS? Have fun being blasted with hair removal product ads throughout your shopping.

It's pretty fucking dystopian, yes. My local corner shop doesn't need to know my shopping habits. It won't sell me more milk or bread. And I won't be buying that new type of chicken nuggies no matter how hard they try to sell it. I'm perfectly happy with what I want to buy, I don't need or want optimised ads.

If you don't use a rewards or loyalty program, you're already paying the highest price for the items.

Potentially face recognition, but primarily through the signals your phone outputs, like WiFi and Bluetooth signals.

it's just as dystopian with a browser

Facial recognition is just one way to begin or build upon a profile, but there are others. Cameras would also be looking for things like specific brands of clothing being worn. Raggedy, no-name work shirt? You get a pass. $80 Carhartt jacket? Maybe we add a buck fifty onto that tub of Folgers you rely on to get through the day. Wearing the latest $300 T-shirt drop from the Foofoo X MTBLZ brokemaxxing collab? Hell, I'd personally wanna charge you extra on principle.

Even without cameras and their "AI" trying to gauge your wealth, past purchases can just as easily be associated with the credit/debit cards used to pay for them in order to build a profile. If they know what you regularly buy they can start nickel and dime'ing those things to test the limits of what you're willing to spend. I feel like I also heard about some stores using Bluetooth or NFC triangulation. So your phone, smart watch, fitness tracker, etc could essentially serve as their means to watch you movements. They know the moment you entered, how long you lingered in a specific spot in any given aisle, and what register you checked out at. Now there's a profile for those devices. Paid with debit/credit again? Then those devices and the purchasing method are connected and the overall profile has grown.

I'm kind of curious how much longer places are going to accept cash. It's anecdotal but, from grocers to department stores, there never seems to be more than a single staffed checkout lane around here anymore. Then, of course, the self checkouts don't accept cash (or the few that do seem to always be out of service). Probably equal parts "we don't want to pay more employees" and "we want your data" motivating that shift.

We're decades into dystopian already.