UK retail facial recognition expands as Facewatch seeks tighter rules

Facial recognition is spreading through UK shops, with Facewatch urging stricter regulation while SAI partners with the Retail Trust, amid retail theft costing about £4 billion a year in losses and prevention. Big Brother Watch is campaigning against store use, a petition has gathered over 42,000 signatures, and Sainsbury's paused one store's system after a customer was wrongly ejected. The story shows automated identification becoming routine in everyday commerce before a clear legal framework exists, which raises the question of who sets the limits on persistent identification.