Teen’s $1B suit claims Apple’s facial recognition software led to false arrest

Teen’s $1B suit claims Apple’s facial recognition software led to false arrest

Normally I would post something from the beginning of the article, but in this case I think the most pertinent thing to quote would be the last paragraph:

Apple’s “use of facial recognition software in its stores to track individuals suspected of theft is the type of Orwellian surveillance that consumers fear, particularly as it can be assumed that the majority of consumers are not aware that their faces are secretly being analyzed,” the lawsuit states.

Here's a great piece of irony:


Apple appears to have become the very thing they so desperately were saying they would never be. Big Brother lives!

Ousmane Bah, 18, claims someone used a stolen ID to pass themselves off as him when they were busted stealing $1,200 worth of merchandise from an Apple store in Boston on May 31, 2018, according to papers filed in Manhattan federal court.

The ID listed his name, address and other personal information — but did not include a photo. Bah believes Apple took the perp at his word, and then programmed its security systems to recognize the man’s face as Bah’s.

The thief then ripped off Apple stores in New Jersey, Delaware and Manhattan — incidents Bah was blamed for, the suit claims.

I see only a matter of time before we hear about government use of this technology starting to cause similar injustices. Blame it on the pessimist in me.

a reply to: BomSquad

So, i'm not a big fan of surveillance technology and facial recognition but, this

Ousmane Bah, 18, claims someone used a stolen ID to pass themselves off as him when they were busted stealing $1,200 worth of merchandise from an Apple store in Boston on May 31, 2018, according to papers filed in Manhattan federal court. 

The ID listed his name, address and other personal information — but did not include a photo. Bah believes Apple took the perp at his word, and then programmed its security systems to recognize the man’s face as Bah’s. 

It sounds like he got arrested because this

Thief used Bah's stolen, non-photo ID.
This led to Bah being arraigned for theft.
Apple face-recognition then matched video of thief in multiple thefts at other stores.
This led to Bah being arrested.
Police then realized that Bah did not resemble thief, he was released, and various charges have been dropped.

www.insurancejournal.com...

The one Billion dollar lawsuit is bogus, but he should be able to sue for a million because it appears they doctored the photo during clarification to make it look like him. So, was it the store personnel that did this or Apple. With modern technology it is easy for someone to alter photos these days.

At a million, the lawsuit would probably be settled out of court for say a hundred grand or more, that is plenty for the hassle he had with this. They should also do a public apology on many networks to make sure his name is cleared. Maybe that will teach these people not to be altering evidence.

a reply to: rickymouse

A million is nothing for apple. Like petty cash that won't even notice is missing. And the won't do anything to change their policy.

Keep it at a billion so that they'll feel it and actually make sure that something like this will never happen again.

a reply to: rickymouse

I disagree. You need a substantive punitive amount. I think the 1b should be divided up to everyone in the database.