In Switzerland, train passengers will soon be ‘followed’ by cameras. Data protection experts feel espionage, the railways denied.
The Swiss railways want to equip dozens of train stations with cameras from September to analyze people’s movements and customers’ purchasing behavior. For this, approximate age, gender, size and luggage are recorded, which shops a customer visits and how much money he spends there.
After strong criticism, the SBB has now decided on a PR offensive to correct “false reports”. “The fact is: the data is recorded anonymously. There is no link to personal data – and no facial recognition is used. It is still unclear what technology will be used,” the report said. Instead of facial recognition, it is face capture, which is technically a difference. Each person is temporarily assigned a number to track their movements. The number is not stored.
So if the person comes back the next day, they won’t be recognized and will get a new number. In addition, they are classified into age groups based on other characteristics, such as children, students, middle-aged and elderly.
SBB wants to use the data to gather information about customer needs and tailor its offer accordingly. “We are not interested in the individual, only in the statistics,” assures the SBB.
Source: Krone
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