here is a line-by-line translation of wegmans’ public statement on facial recognition technology into what it functionally means in practice. this sticks closely to their own language, because the most revealing part of corporate surveillance policy is usually what’s hidden in plain sight. i am feeding a baby, and doing speech to text, i may make mistakes.
line-by-line “translation”
wegmans says:
“at wegmans, the safety of our customers and employees is a top priority.”
translation:
we are starting with the magic word that shuts down debate. once we say “safety,” any objection can be framed as reckless, antisocial, or pro-crime. if you question this, it may be domestic terrorism.
wegmans says:
“like many retailers, we use cameras to help identify individuals who pose a risk to our people, customers, or operation.”
translation:
we want this to sound normal, inevitable, and industry-standard. “risk” is undefined and conveniently expandable to whatever behavior we decide to dislike later.
wegmans says:
“in a small fraction of our stores located in communities that exhibit an elevated risk, we have deployed cameras equipped with facial recognition technology.”
translation:
we are absolutely using facial recognition, but we would like you to picture it as rare, selective, and happening somewhere else. also check out the implication that certain neighborhoods and the people in them are inherently suspicious.
wegmans says:
“in new york city, we comply with local requirements by posting the mandated signage to notify customers about the technology.”
translation:
we are doing the bare legal minimum required to avoid fines. signage replaces consent. if you walk in, we count that as agreement. walkware’ agreement.
wegmans says:
“this technology is solely used for keeping our stores secure and safe.”
translation:
we promise it is only for good things, trust us. we are not explaining what safeguards exist to prevent scope creep, future reuse, or expansion.
wegmans says:
“the system collects facial recognition data and only uses it to identify individuals who have been previously flagged for misconduct.”
translation:
we maintain a private watchlist of faces. you do not know how people get on it, how long they stay on it, or how errors are corrected.
wegmans says:
“we do not collect other biometric data such as retinal scans or voice prints.”
translation:
please thank us for not doing even worse things. also notice this does not limit future upgrades.
wegmans says:
“images and video are retained only as long as necessary for security purposes and then disposed of.”
translation:
we will not define “necessary,” and you have no way to verify deletion. retention is whatever we say it is.
wegmans says:
“for security reasons, we do not disclose the exact retention period, but it aligns with industry standards.”
translation:
we are explicitly refusing transparency while asking for trust. “industry standards” means whatever other companies are doing so we don’t look like bad.
wegmans says:
“persons of interest are determined by our asset protection team based on incidents occurring on our property and on a case-by-case basis, on information from law enforcement for criminal or missing persons cases.”
translation:
a private retail security team gets to decide who is suspicious, sometimes using police input, without due process, oversight, or accountability.
wegmans says:
“we do not share facial recognition scan data with any third party.”
translation:
we are carving out room to share derivative data, alerts, watchlists, or future integrations while technically saying “scan data.”
wegmans says:
“we understand concerns about fairness and bias in facial recognition systems.”
translation:
we acknowledge the criticism because ignoring it looks bad, not because it changes our behavior.
wegmans says:
“we employ a multitude of training and safety measures to help keep people safe.”
translation:
we will not name, document, or audit these measures. “multitude” is doing all the work here.
wegmans says:
“facial recognition technology serves as one investigative lead for us. we never base our decisions on a single lead alone.”
translation:
we admit it influences decisions, just not officially. when something goes wrong, the blame will be diffused and untraceable.
wegmans says:
“our goal is simple – to keep our stores safe and secure.”
translation:
this is the closing spell. if you object after this point, you can be dismissed as someone who does not care about safety, you are probably a domestic terrorist.
what is really going on?
wegmans is normalizing biometric surveillance in a place of daily life. they are doing it without consent, without opt-out by default, without public oversight, and without meaningful transparency. once deployed, systems like this do not shrink. they spread, integrate, and persist.
wegmans should be honest, it’s not about catching shoplifters, wegmans is teaching customers that being scanned is the price of groceries.
if you care about this, you are not paranoid for objecting. . you are noticing the system while it is still being installed, before the rest of us are trained to call it normal.
people who do not want this, will make hats that blast out ir, flooding every camera with useless glare. the wegmans hats are already in transit from a loose confederation of etsy sellers, privacy nerds, and people who understand that the only sane response to casual surveillance is ridicule and overexposure.
the irony too! if wegmans were truly worried about “theft,” they might want to look at their own trademark first. it’s being used, remixed, parodied, and slapped on hats across the internet with zero enforcement. turns out they’re very serious about policing faces, and remarkably relaxed about policing their brand.
that’s the tell. this isn’t about loss prevention. it’s about control. about who gets watched, who gets flagged, and who gets taught that resistance is abnormal. some will wear the hats. some will light up their cameras until all there is a snowstorm of digital nonsense.
fight wegmans face scanning in the open, my fellow shoppers, because the system only works if everyone pretends not to see it.
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