Foodstuffs NI general counsel Julian Benefield told Ghahraman: “The store is deeply disappointed by the third-party subcontractor’s unauthorised disclosure and the store apologises to you for it.”
The admission comes as a new Pak’nSave security breach has emerged – one involving security footage of Samoa’s Minister of Police, Faualo Harry Schuster, a lawyer and former judge, taken while he was shopping at Pak’nSave Clendon.
In that instance, Schuster claimed he was targeted in a political attack by opponents who clipped and released the footage seeking to damage his reputation amidst upheaval in Samoa’s Parliament.
It follows police announcing that multiple complaints had been received by shoppers who claimed to have suffered extortion attempts from Pak’nSave security staff in Manukau, Auckland.
The three incidents have unfolded as the Ministerial Advisory Group on Retail Crime – set up by Minister of Justice Paul Goldsmith – works on proposals for law changes to allow an expanded use of facial recognition technology by retailers.
New technology has massively boosted retailers' ability to combat theft – estimated by police to cost retailers $2.6 billion each year – although their ability to use the technology is currently constrained by elements of the Privacy Act, and concerns it is too intrusive and can result in false accusations.
Goldsmith told the Herald he would not respond to questions about the Foodstuffs incidents but said Foodstuffs’ involvement in the advisory group “is appropriate”.
“The appropriate use of facial recognition to fight retail crime is a point of discussion. Of course, privacy safeguards need to be in place, while at the same time retailers need tools available to them to keep their staff and customers safe and to reduce theft.”
Pak’nSave‘s email to Ghahraman
The leaking of Ghahraman’s image from inside the store’s security system is the latest in a string of privacy issues plaguing the company.
Ghahraman was stopped and questioned at Pak’nSave Royal Oak in early October before her sentence appeal over her conviction on four counts of shoplifting, to which she had pleaded guilty.
The supermarket’s report into the Auror crime reporting platform – which 90% of retailers use – was picked up by police who attempted to use it to bolster their case in the High Court appeal.
No charges were laid and the Herald has reported Ghahraman had not reached the checkout when questioned.
Golriz Ghahraman during her time in Parliament. Photo / Mark Mitchell
In an email from Foodstuffs NI’s Benefield, Ghahraman was told the company had “become aware of an unauthorised disclosure of your personal information (a photo of you)” that had been held by Pak’nSave Royal Oak.
Benefield told Ghahraman she would “recall” her photo being taken by a security guard in the store “following a suspected shoplifting incident”.
He said the photograph was taken as “part of the store’s standard protocol”. Questions to Foodstuffs NI over that protocol have gone unanswered.
Benefield said the supermarket learned on February 17 that a security guard working at the store “had made an unauthorised disclosure of that photo to another unidentified third party”.
That date – February 17 – was four days after the Herald revealed that the photograph had been leaked in a text message made available online.
At the time, a Foodstuffs NI spokesman said the company could not speculate about how people got content for text messages and that it had “strict controls” in place around its systems.
In the email to Ghahraman, Benefield said the company had now “further restricted access to the store’s record relating to the suspected shoplifting incident”.
He said the supermarket had since told the security guard – a contractor – to delete all copies of the photo he held, which he had confirmed was done. The Herald has confirmed the image remains available online and has also been posted to social media.
Benefield said the security guard had also been fired from the store and there would be additional privacy training of the store’s staff, including contractors and subcontractors.
He said the company would inform the Office of the Privacy Commissioner about the unauthorised disclosure and co-operate with any queries it had.
Ghahraman on ‘tiny’ apology
Ghahraman said she was seeking legal advice and waiting on further information she had sought in relation to the leak.
She said Foodstuffs NI had made an “extremely limited admission” yet it was an acknowledgment that “sharing images of their customers without their knowledge or consent is a breach of the law and our fair expectation of privacy”.
Ghahraman said the issue her situation had brought to light was that Foodstuffs shared “all its footage from the Auror system with every member of NZ Police – a third party that normally has to abide by strict surveillance laws to watch us all and save our image on its systems”.
“Why even have surveillance laws if this is what large corporations and police are doing behind closed doors?”
Ghahraman said the privacy breach should be of concern to everyone in New Zealand but particularly to those from marginalised groups.
“For women, queer, and brown peoples, knowing thousands of people across unknown entities have access to our footage, information about what intimate items we buy, who we’re with, when and where – is truly not okay.
“For now, it’s nice to get this tiny, passing, apology, but it certainly does not address the core issue or address the harm.”
The Herald has learned Foodstuffs NI has also apologised to Schuster, Samoa’s Minister of Police, after a video from store security began to circulate on social media.
Schuster told the Herald he was shopping at Pak’nSave Clendon on January 13 while on holiday in New Zealand and had spent $95 at the supermarket before returning home.
Samoa's Minister of Police and Prisons, Faualo Harry Schuster.
A few days later, he said, he was astounded to be alerted to video footage of his shopping trip, clipped and posted to social media with claims that it showed him stealing.
Schuster, a lawyer and former judge, told the Herald, “It was put up on Facebook by someone working for Pak’nSave”.
‘It was done to malign my name’
“I’m still dealing with Pak’nSave head office on how they’re dealing with my privacy violation,” Schuster told the Herald.
He had been told two women working at the supermarket had lost their jobs as a result.
Schuster said he believed the footage had been used by political opponents seeking to destabilise his position and that of his political allies amid parliamentary turmoil.
The Samoan Prime Minister, Fiamē Naomi Mataʻafa, is expected to face a vote of no confidence this week.
“They obviously targeted me. It’s a security video off Pak’nSave. It was a Samoan employee or employees from the Clendon shop. The person who released the footage said, ‘This is the tape of the lawyer and minister of Samoan police’.
“It was to deliberately malign my name. I know the only reason these people did it is because of who I was.”
Schuster said the images showed him standing at the checkout with the incriminating allegations coming not from the video but the words accompanying it.
“All of us are human beings. One of the things we value most is the name our family gave us. Throwing away a reputation for $95? That’s stupid.”
A spokesman from the Office of the Privacy Commissioner confirmed it had received a “formal notification of a serious harm privacy breach” on Thursday relating to the incident involving Ghahraman.
“We are currently working through our process with Foodstuffs NI to understand the detail of the issue and if there are any systemic privacy issues raised by this incident.”
The spokesman said “the affected individual” – Ghahraman – could complain to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner if dissatisfied with the Foodstuffs NI approach.
He said the office had not been told of a privacy breach involving Schuster. “We are following up with Foodstuffs about this incident. We do expect agencies to assess incidents such as these to determine if they require notification to us under the Privacy Act.”
Security guard was police witness
Police confirmed their officers had had contact with the security guard during their investigation into allegations that Ghahraman had taken a $40 item.
“The subcontractor was considered a witness. As part of this process, a digital photo captured by the security guard was provided to police. The photo was stored securely during the investigation.”
The spokesman said officers were speaking to “a number of complainants” relating to “a series of incidents at a Manukau supermarket recently”.
Sunny Kaushal chairs of the Ministerial Advisory Group on Retail Crime. Photo / Ben Dickens
The Herald revealed that a customer had been pulled aside by security staff, had her photograph taken and was then asked for money to stop shoplifting concerns going any further.
Long-time retailers' advocate Sunny Kaushal, chair of Goldsmith’s advisory group on retail crime, said members of the group had met with the Office of the Privacy Commissioner twice about facial recognition and had sought advice and information from other countries about their approach.
He said the group’s timeline to provide Goldsmith with its position on facial recognition was April.
“There have been flaws in our law and that is what has been exploited over time by offenders. That’s where there is a requirement for these legislative changes.”
Foodstuffs NI ran a facial recognition trial in about 25 stores last year, saying it showed a 16% reduction in “serious harm” amounting to a drop of around 100 cases of “assault, abuse and other aggressive or disorderly conduct”.
It released the results in December with a survey of 1000 adults showing 79% supported the use of facial recognition in retail even if it only resulted in a drop in harm of 1%.
A Foodstuffs spokesperson said the company and its stores took “the privacy of our customers extremely seriously” and had “data security processes in place that we are continuously improving”.
“When issues arise, we act promptly to ensure that they are addressed and that we meet our legal obligations.”
The spokesperson said its supermarket workers were spat at, abused, and assaulted and “too often our staff go home traumatised”.
“We wish security measures weren’t necessary - but the reality is that keeping our people and customers safe is a responsibility we take seriously.”
The spokesperson said it brought a “valuable perspective” with its membership of the Ministerial Advisory Group “as one of the country’s biggest retailers, with one of the highest – if not the highest – number of incidents of violence, abuse and theft in our stores”.
David Fisher is based in Northland and has worked as a journalist for more than 30 years, winning multiple journalism awards including being twice named Reporter of the Year and being selected as one of a small number of Wolfson Press Fellows to Wolfson College, Cambridge. He joined the Herald in 2004.
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