The Pokémon Company will use facial recognition to combat Pokémon TCG scalpers in Japan
The Pokémon Company plans to deploy facial recognition technology at trading card events or purchase points in Japan to identify and deter scalpers who buy up limited inventory to resell at inflated prices. The move marks a notable use of biometric surveillance to police consumer behavior in a retail context.
Why this matters: Scalpers are annoying. Facial recognition is a much bigger deal. To stop resellers, The Pokémon Company wants to scan the faces of ordinary people just trying to buy a card game product. That means building or using a biometric system that can identify you, log your presence, and potentially flag you as a problem before you have done anything wrong. The scalping target is sympathetic. The tool is not proportionate. Once a company normalizes face scanning at the checkout line, the reason it started stops mattering.
Who should care: Privacy officers · Cybersecurity · General readers · Policy
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