Use of Facial Recognition Technology by Cadillac Fairview
Information Certainty: Documented
Deployment Purpose: Surveillance
| Summary |
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| 0 |
Products and Institutions:
| Product Deployed | Unknown Products 0002 |
|---|---|
| Institutions⠉ | Unknown Institution 0046 |
| Datasets | Unknown Dataset 0013 |
| Search software |
Status and Events:
| Status | Concluded |
|---|---|
| Events | End (5 August 2018, Documented, , No description) Start (1 January 2018, Speculative, ?, No description) |
| Start Date | |
| End Date |
Users:
| Involved Entities | |
|---|---|
| Managed by | Unknown Institution 0046 |
| Used by | Cadillac Fairview |
Location:
| City | Vancouver Montreal Toronto Calgary Richmond Winnipeg Hamilton Markham Laval |
|---|---|
| Country⠉ | Canada Canada Canada Canada Canada Canada Canada Canada Canada |
Description[ ]
The AVA technology: (i) took temporary digital images of the faces of any individual within the field of view of the camera in the directory (retained in computer memory briefly during processing); (ii) used facial recognition software to convert those images into biometric numerical representations of the individual faces (sensitive personal information that could be used to identify individuals based on their unique facial features); and (iii) used that information to assess age range and gender. 2
The real estate company behind some of Canada's most popular shopping centres embedded cameras inside its digital information kiosks at 12 shopping malls in major Canadian cities to collect millions of images — and used facial recognition technology without customers' knowledge or consent — according to a new investigation by the federal, Alberta and B.C. privacy commissioners.
According to the report, the technology Cadillac Fairview used — known as "anonymous video analytics" or AVA— took temporary digital images of the faces of individuals within the field of view of the camera in the directory.
It then used facial recognition software to convert those images into biometric numerical representations of individual faces, about five million images in total.
That sensitive personal information could be used to identify individuals based on their unique facial features, said the commissioners. 3
Cadillac Fairview is suspending its use of facial recognition technology at the Chinook Centre and Market Mall shopping centres in Calgary.
Facial recognition software was discovered being used in a Calgary mall last month and investigations are now underway.
In an emailed statement sent to Global News on Sunday, Cadillac Fairview Corporation’s director of media relations confirmed that the Federal Privacy Commissioner and Privacy Commissioner of Alberta are investigating after media coverage of cameras in their shopping centre directories. 4
This deployment, while similar to a deployment in Switzerland, received much more media attention and even the Privacy Commisioner of Canada got involved.
References
- a b "{Mall real estate company collected 5 million images of shoppers, say privacy watchdogs".
- a b "{Cadillac Fairview suspends use of facial recognition cameras at Calgary malls".
- a b "PIPEDA Findings #2020-004: Joint investigation of the Cadillac Fairview Corporation Limited by the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Alberta, and the Information and Privacy Commissioner for British Columbia". (2020) <https://www.priv.gc.ca/en/opc-actions-and-decisions/investigations/investigations-into-businesses/2020/pipeda-2020-004/> Accessed: 2022-05-20