Overview

• Sainsbury’s began testing live facial recognition at its Sydenham superstore in London and Oldfield Park Local in Bath for eight weeks starting this week.
• The grocer is using Facewatch to flag people reported for violence, aggression or theft, with non-matches deleted and alerts based on behaviour logged by participating retailers.
• The chain says a successful pilot could lead to deployment across more than 1,400 UK stores.
• Privacy group Big Brother Watch condemned the move as invasive and error‑prone, following earlier backlash to Asda’s trial and recent concerns raised by the EHRC about live facial recognition use.
• Usdaw welcomed efforts to protect shop workers, and the policing minister voiced support as official figures show shoplifting at record levels and industry data report high rates of abuse against staff.