Avast_Blog_Privacy: Amazon's "Just Walk Out" tech: Should you just walk away?

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So-called "Just Walk Out" stores and technology take the collection of shopper data to the next level

If you've been following Amazon’s move towards having physical storefronts, you probably have seen the news about a series of different types of retail stores they have created, including bookstores, grocery stores, general merchandise stores, and shops selling prepared food — each of these being along with the fact that they've owned Whole Foods Markets for the past four years. Let’s take a closer look at the way that these Amazon outlets collect customers' money, how they access their data, and some of the privacy implications tied to Amazon's "Just Walk Out" technology.

The category of smart retail checkout technologies is expected to process nearly $400 billion in transactions by 2025, up from $2 billion in 2020, according to analysts from Juniper Research. So clearly, these technologies are here to stay.

There are several ways to pay when you shop at one of these stores. Let’s classify them into two categories: Category A are like other retailers that have checkout clerks to scan your items and ask you for payment, either by credit card, cash or your smartphone. What Amazon has added is their own Go app, to augment apps such as Apple and Google Pay. Category B – what I'll refer to as "walkout stores" — have completely contactless options that don’t involve any checkout clerks.

Amazon Go vs. Amazon One

Category B stores have two payment methods: The first is to download and use the Amazon Go app. The app works like many point-of-sale systems (such as Toast, Clover and Square, or the variety of supermarket self-checkout systems) that scan a QR code to associate you with the stream of purchases that you get while shopping in the store.

Here's where it gets complicated. The Go app, used in an Amazon Go store, is more than just another contactless payment app. Its major difference from the regular supermarket scanners is that you don’t have to scan anything when you check out. As you walk around the store and collect your items, Amazon is figuring out what you have in your shopping cart and charges you accordingly once you leave. You just walk out the door. How are they watching, you may wonder? There are numerous cameras on the ceiling (think of your average Vegas casino, only more obvious).

The Go store model isn’t the only place watching you shop. There are numerous other tech solutions, including Trigo (which uses AI-powered computer vision) and Trax (which uses specialty-built shopping carts) that track your purchases.

A second and more recently developed payment method is called Amazon One. This is only currently available at about 25 stores located in Seattle, New York City and Washington, D.C. It operates at Whole Foods and Amazon Go, Four Star and Amazon bookstores. There's a turnstile-like device that initially associates your credit card and mobile phone number with your unique palm biometric signature. It reminds me about the things you see at airport gates to check you into your flight, only there, the machines scan the barcodes on your boarding pass.

After the initial set up, every time you visit a store with the One system, you’ll just scan your palm when you enter (and leave) the store for about a second or so. Amazon One has chosen to scan the palm print because “you can’t determine a person’s identity by looking at an image of their palm,” as is promised in one of their early press releases.
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