Fighting back against biometric surveillance at Wegmans

Normalization of Surveillance

• Many argue customers are already desensitized: multiple aisle cameras, ALPRs, Ring/Nextdoor culture, etc. Concern that objecting marks you as “suspicious.”
• Some note wealthier “nice” areas often get the most intense surveillance, partly tied to policing attitudes and residents who feel surveillance is “for their protection.”

Tech Capabilities and Limits

• N95 masks are suggested as low‑tech face obfuscation, but others note software can often recognize masked faces.
• Long debate on gait analysis: some cite research and future risk; practitioners in the field insist it’s not commercially viable for mass retail re‑identification for at least a decade.
• Several assume “every large chain” is already doing facial recognition, but this is presented as belief, not proven fact.

Shoplifting, Crime, and Justifications

• One camp accepts biometrics as a response to shoplifting and weak enforcement; others say the “retail theft crisis” has been exaggerated by industry lobbying.
• Some describe stores aggregating theft over time to push charges to felony level, and sharing data across chains; others question the legality and prevalence of such aggregation.
• Counter‑view: surveillance is less about theft and more about analytics, dynamic pricing, and tighter customer profiling.

Countermeasures vs Structural Change

• Tactics: masks, hats, “shoe stones,” shared loyalty phone numbers, cash, co‑ops, and smaller local stores.
• Critics say these “half‑solutions” help normalize the system; the real goal should be to force companies to stop, not merely to dodge tracking individually.
• Others argue total avoidance is impossible; assume profiling everywhere and focus on minimizing harm.

Law, Policy, and Enforcement

• Suggested remedies: strict retention limits, bans or constraints on biometric use, whistleblower bounties, and private rights of action.
• Skepticism that laws will be enforced meaningfully; some see surveillance capitalism as structurally baked into the economy.

Wider Panopticon and Opt‑Out Rights

• Airport/TSA biometrics seen as both the most “justifiable” and the most dangerous because they normalize face scanning everywhere.
• Several insist on loudly opting out where possible to preserve rights and raise costs for deployers.

Alternatives and Ironies

• Co‑ops and Trader Joe’s are cited as relatively low‑surveillance options; Whole Foods/Amazon is viewed skeptically.
• Some note the irony of Adafruit’s article being fronted by Cloudflare bot protection, though the site provides RSS and claims to respect Do Not Track.