Coming to a TJ Maxx Near You: Employees Wearing Surveillance Body-Cams
Next time you visit your local TJ Maxx––hello, cute summer wardrobe essentials––don’t be surprised if you’re greeted by security employees filming your face with police-style body cameras. Stores claim to be implementing these surveillance tools to reduce shoplifting and to “enhance customer and employee security,” but in reality, they will make shoppers and employees less safe. Not only is this tech likely ineffective at deterring shoplifting, it could also open the door to more invasive spying on customers and workers, and the dangerous collection of sensitive data in mass databases. Tell retailers that surveillance does not mean safety. Reject policy spy tools now!
Background
Reports have revealed major U.S. retail giants TJ Maxx, HomeGoods, and Marshalls are equipping their security employees with body cameras, allegedly to reduce shoplifting and to “enhance customer and employee security.” But in reality, these body cams make shoppers and employees less safe.
Experts say it’s unlikely body cameras will deter shoplifters who are already going into stores with the assumption of being recorded by cameras. And because body cameras provide a limited range of vision, retail employees would have to get very close to a person suspected of trying to shoplift in order to capture their identity. That could place retail employees at risk of unnecessary and avoidable harm.
On top of that, more cameras means more privacy concerns. Stores are already beginning to use facial recognition in a range of ways. As stores introduce body cams, it could be just a matter of time before these cameras are also equipped with facial recognition – an enormous violation of our right to privacy. It would also mean more danger for people of color who are systematically misidentified by facial recognition and could be wrongfully accused and arrested for something they didn’t do.
Even if the cameras are never equipped with facial recognition, body cams represent a dangerous expansion of invasive surveillance in stores. These tools are just slightly modified versions of the body cams worn by police (it’s not surprising that the company producing them primarily creates tech for police departments) and will amass data in massive databases that abusive law enforcement can easily access.
Finally, these cameras create more opportunities for executives to spy on workers, which could impact unionization efforts and also make employees feel like they’re being forced to surveil their coworkers.
Rather than equipping employees with police-style surveillance tools, experts say that measures like “improved training” and “better staffing levels in stores” are effective approaches to protecting frontline workers and reduce shoplifting.
We know stores care about their public image and customer base, and if we call out retailers in the media for this creepy surveillance experiment, we could get them to walk back their dangerous police spy tools. Signing the petition is the first step to applying the pressure we need.