The war on Pokemon scalpers now includes facial recognition checks in some stores in Japan
Some retail stores in Japan have begun using facial recognition technology to screen customers purchasing Pokémon trading cards, targeting scalpers who buy up limited inventory to resell at inflated prices. The measure reflects a broader effort by retailers to manage high-demand product shortages.
Why this matters: Buying a pack of trading cards should not require submitting your face to a database. The scalping problem is real, but facial recognition is a permanent solution to a temporary annoyance. Your biometric data does not expire. Once a retailer collects it, you have no practical control over how long it is kept, who it is shared with, or what else it is used for. The goal here is inventory management. The tool being used is mass biometric surveillance. Those are not proportionate.
Who should care: Privacy officers · Cybersecurity · General readers · Policy
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