Apple Sued for $1 Billion, Allegedly Used Facial Recognition to Wrongly Identify Teen as Thief

An 18-year-old New York teen is suing Apple for $1 billion, alleging the company used facial recognition technology to wrongly identify him as a thief.

Ousmane Bah believes someone used his stolen ID when they were busted stealing $1,200 worth of merchandise from an Apple Store in Boston on May 31, 2018. He suggests that Apple then programmed its security systems to recognize the person's face as his.


After the thief robbed stores in New Jersey, Delaware, and Manhatten, Bah was arrested by the NYPD on November 29th. A detective reviewing the surveillance footage from the Manhatten store concluded that the suspect "looked nothing like" Bah. Charges were dropped in every state except New Jersey where the case is still pending.

The accuses Apple of secretly using facial recognition to track and identify customers.

Apple’s “use of facial recognition software in its stores to track individuals suspected of theft is the type of Orwellian surveillance that consumers fear, particularly as it can be assumed that the majority of consumers are not aware that their faces are secretly being analyzed,” the lawsuit states.

Apple has yet to comment on the case.


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