The use of biometric data to suggest items to shoppers or adjust prices could soon be banned in Massachusetts grocery stores.
Bills in both the state House of Representatives and the state Senate have been progressing in recent months, addressing the threat of surge pricing using biometric data, which can often involve the scanning of customer fingerprints or retinas.
State Representative Lindsay Sabadosa, author of the H.99 bill, has called the technology an imminent threat, with large chains like Kroger and Walmart already rolling it out across the country.
In June 2024, Walmart announced its plan to go digital with shelf labels, with the full conversion expected to take two years. Employees can now use an app to change prices.
Two months later, U.S. Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Bob Casey (D-Pa.) sent a letter to then-Kroger Chairman and CEO Rodney McMullen, accusing the company of using digital price tags to exploit customers.
The senators also issued a press release announcing their investigation into Kroger’s use of digital price tags and warning that the grocer’s use of “surge pricing” through electronic shelf labels has resulted in “price gouging.”
In April 2024, Target faced a lawsuit for allegedly collecting biometric data improperly, and earlier that year, the Federal Trade Commission banned Rite Aid from using facial recognition technology for five years.
Grocers like Wakefern Food Corp. in New York City argue that some biometric technologies, such as facial recognition, help prevent crime in stores. Many oppose legislation that would restrict the use of such software.
“If a thief is caught on camera wiping out an entire section of the supermarket, we must have the ability to prevent that thief from entering our store again,” said Avi Kaner, co-owner of the Morton Williams supermarket chain.
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