Proactive Patron Identification
Summary
FRT is being used by retailers and service providers to proactively identify returning patrons when they enter an establishment, in order to greet a patron and provide personalized service. Client service staff can be alerted to the patron's interests in order to advise the patron about relevant products and services. Retailers can also use FRT to verify the age of patrons for purchasing age-restricted products such as alcohol or tobacco.
Concerns
Canadians are witnessing a growing interest among government and private-sector organizations in adopting systems that use biometric characteristics to automatically identify people or verify their identity. But whether a fingertip, a face or an iris is being scanned, what’s being collected is personal information about an identifiable individual. However, the special nature of the characteristics used in biometric systems can present privacy challenges that might not arise with traditional identification methods, such as paper documents.