According to a survey from First Insight, more than 75 percent of consumers would not shop at a store that used facial recognition technology for marketing purposes. The number drops to 55 percent when respondents know there would be a benefit associated with it.
The Consumer Survey Report was based on a survey of 1,085 U.S. consumers in June.
According to Transparency Market Research, the global market for facial recognition is forecast to reach $2.7 billion by 2022, up from $1.3 billion in 2014. The growth is expected to be driven by increased demand for surveillance systems by civil and government agencies, in part due terrorist activities; acceptance of the technology in the entertainment and consumer electronics industries; and retail expansion.
Transparency Market Research said the "significant growth" of its use at retail will be driven in part by security concerns as well as to better engage customers.
Still, the testing of facial recognition technologies continues to draw controversy.
A GAO report that came out in late July noted that Facebook uses the technology to help users tag friends in photos, while Google uses it to help users find photos and videos of themselves. The report calls for better protectiong for consumers from firms inappropriately sharing any data gleaned from such technologies.
"Face recognition data can be collected without a person's knowledge," Jennifer Lynch, an attorney for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a San Francisco-based privacy rights group, recently told Bloomberg. "It's very rare for a fingerprint to be collected without your knowledge."
- True Detective: First Insight Finds What Consumers Really Want from Retailers - First Insight
- Consumer Survey Report - First Insight
- Facial Recognition Market Expected to Reach US$ 2.67 Bn by 2022 Globally - Transparency Market Research
- Finding the line between digital creepy and cool - RetailWire
- GAO Signals Facial Recognition Privacy Protections Needed - Broadcasting & Cable
- Facebook's Use of Facial-Recognition Tool Draws Privacy Ire - Bloomberg