If the self-inspection camera makes you uncomfortable, what about, oh, what about this one?

Cameras that track people in stores don’t seem to work well for Amazon, do they?

Recently, the company announced it will close eight more Amazon Go stores.

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If you’ve never endured this experience, the Go stores already use the camera to see what you’re buying and then let you auto-pay without having to pay.

These are – oh yes, I’ve tried it – breathtakingly soulless places that drip empty spirit late at night – at all times of the day.

Then again, they highlighted what cameras can do for the shopping experience. Or rather, for the store owner’s experience.

Why, Woolworths in Australia are using the camera to keep track of everything a shopper scans at checkout.

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We can’t let you accidentally mistake organic bananas for inferior ones, you know?

The company insists that it’s all for training purposes only, and apparently “it helps to reduce false scans”.

Woolworths adds: “This is also one of a number of initiatives we’ve rolled out across our checkouts to make shopping more convenient and seamless.”

There is always something touching when snooping is introduced entirely to make your life more convenient and seamless, dear shopper.

But let’s not carp. Shop owners have to make a living. First, they do it by having fewer human employees and replacing them with self-checkout machines. Then they do it by installing cameras to prevent theft, because humans, it seems, can’t be trusted.

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Then let me introduce the Fairway supermarket on New York’s rather posh Upper West Side. Its management is extremely annoyed when people steal things, so it also fall into the idea of ​​surveillance by camera.

Except these cameras collect biometric information. A sign outside the store is titled: “Disclosure of Biometric Identification Information”.

Doesn’t that just get you in the mood to buy some kiwi and plums?

The sign continues in a constructive spirit: “This business collects, stores, converts, stores or shares customer biometric identification information, which can be used to receive form or help identify you.”

“Stocks? With whom exactly?” I hear you worry. And wait, what kind of biometric information are we discussing here?

The store helpfully adds: “Examples of identifying information are eye scans and voice signatures.”

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Yes, fingerprints. How do you feel when your conversation with your lover about their preference for Corn Flakes over Coco Pops is collected, kept, converted (to what? a song?) and shared (with Who? Grain police? Your ex-spouse?)

Please, I understand that is flesh created in the future. But does the future really have to take a pound of that meat every time we want a pound of ground beef?

Fairway told ABC7NY the new technology is “helping our store reduce retail crime.” Furthermore, Fairway told the New York Times that the real problem is that the city doesn’t care about enforcing the law. (Perhaps the city needs more people to police it? Just wondering.)

And at least there’s a customer warning sign, right? Well, I Love The Upper West Side blog wander into the Fairway and claimed it saw no sign of the sign.

Oh, but it’s not just about retail crime, some people might fear. Why, the owner of Madison Square Garden use facial recognition to deny entry to lawyers they consider to be opponents. (And you think all sports fans in New York are, in principle, rivals.)

But please don’t feel bad about this. All these retailers are definitely ethical and responsible people. They follow cybersecurity best practices. Nothing bad will happen.

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I believe that, of course.

Then again, Amazon currently being sued because it allegedly didn’t actually warn Go shoppers about the nature of its camera snooping.

It’s all kind of a mess, isn’t it? Business owners have always been inclined to believe that technology is the cheaper, more permanent solution.

But it always has unintended consequences — sometimes because no one cares enough to consider those consequences as deeply as possible.