We were in our local Target store yesterday. My wife purchased some OTC cough syrup, the self check out register wanted an employee for confirmation she was the proper age. (We're in our sixty's.) Instead of just looking at her driver's license, he used his handheld device to scan the license! I would never allow this, myself.
><i>Instead of just looking at her driver's license, he used his handheld device to scan the license!</i><p>depending on what is in the cough syrup, they arent using the scanner to verify age. they are tracking <i>who</i> makes the purchase, so if a bunch of meth or whatever gets cooked up, they have a list of suspects.
Yes. Federal law requires retailers of drugs containing pseudoephedrine, ephedrine, and phenlypropanolamine to record the buyer's name and address and keep the records for two years (<a href="https://www.fda.gov/drugs/information-drug-class/legal-requirements-sale-and-purchase-drug-products-containing-pseudoephedrine-ephedrine-and" rel="nofollow">https://www.fda.gov/drugs/information-drug-class/legal-requi...</a>).<p>While there is no federal law restricting the sale of medications containing Dextromethorphan, a common cough suppressant, US states have started regulating sales of these medications (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dextromethorphan_regulation_by_U.S._jurisdiction" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dextromethorphan_regulation_by...</a>). It looks like most of the time, it's an 18yrs and up age restriction.<p>My guess would be that it's easier for company policy to always scan the ID, even for age verification, instead of having different policies depending on what is being purchased.
> While stores often implement the technology to help curtail shoplifting, lawmakers and advocates are worried that it will be repurposed for profiling customers and adjusting prices based on information gathered.<p>Worried? With the web of 3rd party services that are somehow involved in the delivery of any cloud service, with all their different privacy policies that apply with carefully crafted legalese, hosted in different jurisdictions. Combined with that juicy data, the New Oil that fuels surveillance capitalism. Unless somehow watertight guarantees are provided, it is more realistic to <i>assume</i> widespread abuse is commonplace, and work from there.
<a href="https://archive.ph/5OXNR" rel="nofollow">https://archive.ph/5OXNR</a>
Is it to curtail shoplifting or is the main benefit selling the data ?<p>If they wanted to curtail shoplifting they could employ more staff.
AI seems to scale better considering most shoplifting is done by repeat offenders, and AI can do things easily like share knowledge with other stores in the area about who is a shoplifter. Also, it isn't even clear to me how more staff prevents shoplifting. Just have more people stare at cameras? Follow suspicious customers around?
Shops are making extremely feeble efforts to curtail theft such that I think it's a nice cover for raising prices, slashing costs and increasing data capitalism etc<p>For example at a local Asda, an expensive donut brand are placed right by the entrance. I see people stealing them all the time. At Gregg's bakery, many popular items are left on a table half way to the door, almost inviting theft. Other expensive items are put in the chiller/hot cabinet open to all.<p>It's been so obvious what changes need to be made, you ask yourself why they have not