Amazon Fresh London store: a civil liberties accident waiting to happen?
Concerns have been raised about civil liberties restrictions following the London launch of an Amazon Fresh automated store.
UK shoppers are for the first time able to use Amazon’s Just Walk Out tech, which was pioneered at the Amazon Go offering in the States.
The bricks and mortar move sparked a media frenzy this week, with various industry observers labelling it the future of retail.
But not everyone is happy about it.
"[It] offers a dystopian, total surveillance shopping experience," Silkie Carlo of Big Brother Watch told BBC News.
"Amazon's intense tracking of shoppers will create larger personal data footprints than any other retailer. Customers deserve to know how and by whom these records and analytics could be used."
Meanwhile, high profile cash advocate, Ron Delnevo, tweeted this morning: “No cash = not for me.”
“Technology is being used to monitor and completely control humans, by governments and huge corporations. If only these dictators could stop the North Pole melting, but nature cannot be enslaved. I am with nature.”
Amazon has said it will only associate information collected in-store with a customer's account for up to 30 days, whilst further details about how it uses the data can be found here.
Fresh from the States
The aforementioned Amazon Fresh store launched yesterday in Ealing, West London.
It’s the e-commerce giant’s first physical outlet outside of North America.
The 2,500 square feet store is situated at 59 The Broadway. It will be open 7am-11pm Monday to Sunday.
Shoppers use the Amazon app to enter and buy items, bagging them as they go. At the end, they don’t need to stand in queue or check out. They are automatically billed as they leave.
Further info here.
