Connect with us

Published

on

A Rite Aid store stands in Brooklyn on August 28, 2023 in New York City.

Spencer Platt | Getty Images

The Federal Trade Commission proposed to bar Rite Aid from using facial recognition software in its drugstores for five years to settle allegations it improperly used the technology to identify shoplifters, the agency said Tuesday.

The FTC alleged that from 2012 to 2020, Rite Aid deployed facial recognition technology in hundreds of its retail pharmacies across several states in order to identify customers it had previously deemed likely to be shoplifting or engaging in other criminal activity. But the system generated thousands of false-positive matches, according to the FTC, resulting in some shoppers being mistakenly flagged as persons of interest.

Those individuals were detained or searched by Rite Aid employees, subjected to increased surveillance, publicly accused of criminal activity, reported to police, and in some cases banned from entering or making purchases at Rite Aid stores, the FTC alleged.

Rite Aid’s facial recognition technology was more likely to generate false positives in stores located in predominantly Black and Asian neighborhoods than in predominantly white communities, where 80% of Rite Aid stores are located, the FTC claims.

Rite Aid relied on facial technology from two undisclosed vendors, the agency said. It maintained a database of persons of interest that included images collected from security camera footage, driver’s licenses or government IDs, along with data such as names, years of birth, and “information related to criminal or ‘dishonest’ behavior in which individuals had allegedly engaged,” the FTC alleged in its complaint, which was filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. There were “at least tens of thousands of individuals in its database,” the agency alleged.

As part of the proposed settlement, the FTC said Rite Aid must order third parties to delete images or photos collected by its facial recognition system, notify shoppers when biometric data is collected or used in connection with its security or surveillance systems, among other requirements. It will also require Rite Aid to permanently discontinue using the technology if it can’t control potential risks to consumers.

Rite Aid said in a press release that it’s pleased to reach an agreement with the FTC but that it disagrees with the agency’s allegations.

“The allegations relate to a facial recognition technology pilot program the Company deployed in a limited number of stores,” the company said, adding that it stopped using the technology more than three years ago, before the FTC initiated its investigation.

The FTC action comes after a Reuters investigation in 2020 detailed Rite Aid’s use of facial recognition technology in primarily lower-income, non-white neighborhoods. Reuters identified facial recognition software providers DeepCam and FaceFirst as RiteAid’s vendors. FaceFirst’s technology routinely misidentified Black individuals as shoplifters, the Reuters investigation found.

Privacy and civil liberties advocates continue to raise alarms around the use of facial recognition software and the need for further regulation. The technology has led to increased surveillance, and numerous studies have shown the artificial intelligence underpinning the technology is more likely to misidentify people of color, leading to wrongful arrests.

The proposed settlement is subject to approval by a court overseeing Rite Aid’s bankruptcy proceedings. The drugstore chain filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in October amid slowing sales, rising debt and lawsuits alleging it contributed to the U.S. opioid epidemic.

Continue Reading

Technology

Apple says COO Jeff Williams will retire from company later this year

Published

on

By

Apple says COO Jeff Williams will retire from company later this year

Jeff Williams, chief operating officer of Apple Inc., during the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) at Apple Park campus in Cupertino, California, US, on Monday, June 9, 2025.

David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Apple said on Tuesday that Chief Operating Officer Jeff Williams, a 27-year company veteran, will be retiring later this year.

Current operations leader Sabih Khan will take over much of the COO role later this month, Apple said in a press release. For his remaining time with the comapny, Williams will continue to head up Apple’s design team, Apple Watch, and health initiatives, reporting to CEO Tim Cook.

Williams becomes the latest longtime Apple executive to step down as key employees, who were active in the company’s hyper-growth years, reach retirement age. Williams, 62, previously headed Apple’s formidable operations division, which is in charge of manufacturing millions of complicated devices like iPhones, while keeping costs down.

He also led important teams inside Apple, including the company’s fabled industrial design team, after longtime leader Jony Ive retired in 2019. When Williams retires, Apple’s design team will report to CEO Tim Cook, Apple said.

“He’s helped to create one of the most respected global supply chains in the world; launched Apple Watch and overseen its development; architected Apple’s health strategy; and led our world class team of designers with great wisdom, heart, and dedication,” Cook said in the statement.

Williams said he plans to spend more time with friends and family.

“June marked my 27th anniversary with Apple, and my 40th in the industry,” Williams said in the release.

Williams is leaving Apple at a time when its famous supply chain is under significant pressure, as the U.S. imposes tariffs on many of the countries where Apple sources its devices, and White House officials publicly pressure Apple to move more production to the U.S.

Khan was added to Apple’s executive team in 2019, taking an executive vice president title. Apple said on Tuesday that he will lead supply chain, product quality, planning, procurement, and fulfillment at Apple.

The operations leader joined Apple’s procurement group in 1995, and before that worked as an engineer and technical leader at GE Plastics. He has a bachelor’s degree from Tufts University and a master’s degree in mechanical engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in upstate New York.

Khan has worked closely with Cook. Once, during a meeting when Cook said that a manufacturing problem was “really bad,” Khan stood up and drove to the airport, and immediately booked a flight to China to fix it, according to an anecdote published in Fortune.

WATCH: Jefferies upgrades Apple

Jefferies upgrades Apple to 'Hold'

Continue Reading

Technology

Elon Musk lashes out at Tesla bull Dan Ives over board proposals: ‘Shut up’

Published

on

By

Elon Musk lashes out at Tesla bull Dan Ives over board proposals: 'Shut up'

Elon Musk, chief executive officer of SpaceX and Tesla, attends the Viva Technology conference at the Porte de Versailles exhibition center in Paris, June 16, 2023.

Gonzalo Fuentes | Reuters

Tesla CEO Elon Musk told Wedbush Securities’ Dan Ives to “Shut up” on Tuesday after the analyst offered three recommendations to the electric vehicle company’s board in a post on X.

Ives has been one of the most bullish Tesla observers on Wall Street. With a $500 price target on the stock, he has the highest projection of any analyst tracked by FactSet.

But on Tuesday, Ives took to X with critical remarks about Musk’s political activity after the world’s richest person said over the weekend that he was creating a new political party called the America Party to challenge Republican candidates who voted for the spending bill that was backed by President Donald Trump.

Ives’ post followed a nearly 7% slide in Tesla’s stock Monday, which wiped out $68 billion in market cap. Ives called for Tesla’s board to create a new pay package for Musk that would get him 25% voting control and clear a path to merge with xAI, establish “guardrails” for how much time Musk has to spend at Tesla, and provide “oversight on political endeavors.”

Ives published a lengthier note with other analysts from his firm headlined, “The Tesla board MUST Act and Create Ground Rules For Musk; Soap Opera Must End.” The analysts said that Musk’s launching of a new political party created a “tipping point in the Tesla story,” necessitating action by the company’s board to rein in the CEO.

Still, Wedbush maintained its price target and its buy recommendation on the stock.

“Shut up, Dan,” Musk wrote in response on X, even though the first suggestion would hand the CEO the voting control he has long sought at Tesla.

In an email to CNBC, Ives wrote, “Elon has his opinion and I get it, but we stand by what the right course of action is for the Board.”

Musk’s historic 2018 CEO pay package, which had been worth around $56 billion and has since gone up in value, was voided last year by the Delaware Court of Chancery. Judge Kathaleen McCormick ruled that Tesla’s board members had lacked independence from Musk and failed to properly negotiate at arm’s length with the CEO.

Elon Musk can't continue to go down this political path, says Wedbush's Dan Ives

Tesla has appealed that case to the Delaware state Supreme Court and is trying to determine what Musk’s next pay package should entail.

Ives isn’t the only Tesla bull to criticize Musk’s continued political activism.

Analysts at William Blair downgraded the stock to the equivalent of a hold from a buy on Monday, because of Musk’s political plans and rhetoric as well as the negative impacts that the spending bill passed by Congress could have on Tesla’s margins and EV sales.

“We expect that investors are growing tired of the distraction at a point when the business needs Musk’s attention the most and only see downside from his dip back into politics,” the analysts wrote. “We would prefer this effort to be channeled towards the robotaxi rollout at this critical juncture.”

Trump supporter James Fishback, CEO of hedge fund Azoria Partners, said Saturday that his firm postponed the listing of an exchange-traded fund, the Azoria Tesla Convexity ETF, that would invest in the EV company’s shares and options. He began his post on X saying, “Elon has gone too far.”

“I encourage the Board to meet immediately and ask Elon to clarify his political ambitions and evaluate whether they are compatible with his full-time obligations to Tesla as CEO,” Fishback wrote.

Musk said Saturday that he has formed the America Party, which he claimed will give Americans “back your freedom.” He hasn’t shared formal details, including where the party may be registered, how much funding he will provide for it and which candidates he will back.

Tesla’s stock is now down about 25% this year, badly underperforming U.S. indexes and by far the worst performance among tech’s megacaps.

Musk spent much of the first half of the year working with the Trump administration and leading an effort to massively downsize the federal government. His official work with the administration wrapped up at the end of May, and his exit preceded a public spat between Musk and Trump over the spending bill and other matters.

Musk, Tesla’s board chair Robyn Denholm and investor relations representative Travis Axelrod didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

WATCH: Musk-backed party would be doomed by his unfavorability

Musk-backed party would be doomed by his unfavorability, says Big Technology's Alex Kantrowitz

Continue Reading

Technology

Waymo offers teen accounts for driverless rides

Published

on

By

Waymo offers teen accounts for driverless rides

Waymo announced it is now offering teen accounts for its self-driving car service Waymo One, beginning in Phoenix, Arizona.

Courtesy of Waymo

Waymo announced Tuesday that it is offering accounts for teens ages 14 to 17, starting in Phoenix.

The Alphabet-owned company said that, beginning Tuesday, parents in Phoenix can use their Waymo accounts “to invite their teen into the program, pairing them together.” Once their account is activated, teens can hail fully autonomous rides.

Previously, users were required to be at least 18 years old to sign up for a Waymo account, but the age range expansion comes as the company seeks to increase ridership amid a broader expansion of its ride-hailing service across U.S. cities. Alphabet has also been under pressure to monetize AI products amid increased competition and economic headwinds.

Waymo said it will offer “specially-trained Rider Support agents” during rides hailed by teens and loop in parents if needed. Teens can also share their trip status with their parents for real-time updates on their progress, and parents receive all ride receipts.

Teen accounts are initially only being offered to riders in the metro Phoenix area. Teen accounts will expand to more markets outside California where the Waymo app is available in the future, a spokesperson said.

Waymo’s expansion to teens follows a similar move by Uber, which launched teen accounts in 2023. Waymo, which has partnerships with Uber in multiple markets, said it “may consider enabling access for teens through our network partners in the future.”

Already, Waymo provides more than 250,000 paid trips each week across Phoenix, the San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles, Atlanta, and Austin, Texas, and the company is preparing to bring autonomous rides to Miami and Washington, D.C., in 2026.

In June, Waymo announced that it plans to manually drive vehicles in New York, marking the first step toward potentially cracking the largest U.S. city. Waymo said it applied for a permit with the New York City Department of Transportation to operate autonomously with a trained specialist behind the wheel in Manhattan.

WATCH: We went to Texas for Tesla’s robotaxi launch. Here’s what we saw

We went to Texas for Tesla's robotaxi launch. Here's what we saw

Continue Reading

Trending