An increasing number of traders are equipped with cameras that discreetly analyze the faces of their customers at the checkout. A device that raises a confidentiality problem.
If you buy a packet of cigarettes or games of money from your tobacconist, you may notice the presence of a small device resembling a webcam. This one, not content with filming you, will carefully analyze the features of your face using artificial intelligence. His goal: to determine whether you are an adult or not.
Indeed, in France, the law prohibits the sale of tobacco to minors, as stipulated in article L3512-12 of the public health code. But, in practice, this ban is very difficult to enforce. According to a report by the National Committee against Smoking (CNTC) published in 2022, no less than 64 % of tobacconists admitted to having sold tobacco to minors aged seventeen in 2021. Worse, according to the interdepartmental mission to fight against Drugs and addictive behaviors, 94 % of young smokers still manage to buy their cigarettes from tobacconists. Proof that the law is not always applied …
Also, no less than 200 French tobacconists have installed devices equipped with facial analysis software, called Mycheckr and developed by the innovative technology company. The system is available in two models: the Mycheckr, which incorporates a screen allowing the diffusion of advertisements and is marketed at 480 euros, and the Mycheckr Mini, which does not include a screen and is satisfied with a system of light clairvoyants – Green for major estimated customers, red to report a doubt about age -, which is marketed at 280 euros.
Obviously, the technology is not infallible, so it has a two -year safety margin. In France, the device is configured over 21 years. If the customer is assimilated as being of age, he must then show an identity document to prove his age.
But such technology inevitably raises concerns, including data protection. Innovative Technology aims to be reassuring and ensures on its website that data is subject to local processing, without the images of customers being saved, and that the device is not connected to the Internet. It also specifies that it is a facial analysis, and not facial recognition. There is therefore no database used to determine the identity of a customer.
Some points still deserve to be raised. First, facial analysis applies to all customers, including those who do not buy products subject to age restriction. However, European data protection regulations (GDPR) require that only information strictly necessary for a specific objective is collected, which is therefore not the case here.
In addition, even if the data is anonymized, it can still be commercially exploited. In addition to the dissemination of advertising on screens, Innovative Technology specifies that the machine produces reports according to the gender or age of customers. No wonder the CNIL is distrustful of the system …