Some supermarkets in France are trialling new video surveillance systems at automatic checkouts or point of sale (POS) machines, in a system that is more effective than traditional methods – but raises questions about personal freedoms. One Intermarché supermarket in Var, in particular, is now using a system that combines payment with anti-theft video surveillance, said newspaper Le Parisien.
The automatic, self-service checkouts use a system designed to detect ‘suspicious gestures’, with cameras focused on customers’ hands as they scan and bag each item. It aims to detect customers who do not scan some products, whether because they are trying to shoplift or because they have genuinely missed certain items.
The supermarket’s manager, Laurent Hugou, volunteered to test the device. He said: “People have developed habits with self-service checkouts. Sometimes the customer forgets an item at the bottom of the basket; sometimes the barcode is illegible.”
It works by connecting ‘intelligent’ cameras to image processing software. If the cameras detect any suspicious behaviour or items being missed, it displays a message to the customer, reading: ‘Vous êtes sûrs de n’avoir rien oublié ? (Are you sure you haven’t forgotten anything?’)’. If there is no reaction, the checkout is blocked and a staff member must come and unlock it for the customer to continue using it. The system can replay video to enable staff to check the ‘suspicious movement’.
Mr Hugou believes that the trial in his store has been “conclusive”. He says it has reduced the number of errors by 50% and that there have not been any problems in all 300-400 instances of people using the automatic tills per day.
However, the computer freedoms commission la Commission Nationale de l’Informatique et des Libertés (CNIL) has voiced concerns about the system’s use of video surveillance software. It said that the devices, which are created by the EU start-up Veesion, do not respect the need to protect customers’ personal data.
Similarly, Martin Drago, at the French digital rights advocacy group La Quadrature du Net, has suggested that the devices could be “considered illegal”. However, the manufacturer, Diebold Nixdorf, has defended its technology, stating that its machines “blur out” all customer and confidential data, and that the video is not stored for long-term future use.
