A lawsuit from an 18-year-old New York resident claims that Apple is to blame for a false arrest. For the trouble, the suit is requesting $1 billion dollars.
PerThe New York Post, Ousmane Bah says that someone used a stolen ID and were later caught attempting to steal an estimated $1,200 in goods from a Boston Apple shop last May. The ID, he alleges, didn’t include a photo but Apple "took [the man] at his word" and allegedly programmed their security systems to have the man's face recognized as Ousmane Bah's.
Bah alleges he was subsequently blamed for additional Apple store hits by the same man in New Jersey, Manhattan, and Delaware. In November, Bah was arrested, with investigators later determining that the man seen in surveillance footage didn't look like him at all. Sans New Jersey, related charges against Bah have been dropped.
In the suit, in-store facial recognition software is compared to "Orwellian surveillance" and is alleged to be used in Apple stores. In a subsequent statement to Engadget, however, an Apple rep said that the company does not use facial recognition technology in its stores.
The company is one month removed from its big unveiling of an assortment of original programming and a new gaming service, both of which were detailed and demoed for those in attendance at the Steve Jobs Theaters in Cupertino. The presentation also saw the announcement of the Apple Card, a credit card set to launch later this year that offers sign-up options within Apple Pay.
