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Comment by blagie | Hacker News Reader

Then we can stop going to stores and shop more online, since another upside of bricks-and-mortar is gone.

Hard to say if all the data collection that happens online is any better

Isn't that the point? No way out really.

Sure there’s a way out. Elect representatives who will vote to outlaw the use of facial recognition and other tracking technologies.

There are many things I wish they would do and this isn't at the top of the list for me.

That's kind of why we have broken laws.

People vote for what's on the top of their list, which is always one side of the abortion debate, the gun debate, the social justice/identity politics debate, or otherwise.

The stuff further down, in aggregate, matters a lot more, and is universally corrupt.

Not sure those are the top ones either but let's grant the point. What do you think voters should be doing instead?

Shop local, independent stores. Vote with your wallet.

How do I know local, independent stores aren't using face recognition?

I can get a home security face recognition camera for $30. This is no longer elite technology.

I'll take my chances with the panopticon.

Data tracking and collection has always been a thing for big brick and mortar stores, it's just that tracking technology has massively progressed in the past decade.

Yeah that’s all loyalty cards are about.

Or show up in one of those anti face recognition masks whenever you go shopping.

You've kind of been handed a readymade excuse to obscure half your face at all times. One of the big ironies of the 1/6 event that people were so committed to masklessness as a political statement that they filmed themselves commiting crimes without obscuring their faces.

Then it's time to build yourself a greenhouse

I think I understand your general point. However, I can’t help but feel like it’s a form of giving up. We should be “yelling” loudly to our politicians while boycotting retailers that implement this.

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