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Lifestyle

Mannequin Monitors

July 2, 2013

An Italian mannequin manufacturer is equipping his products with surveillance cameras that allow retailers to monitor customers' habits. But critics say this infringes on people's privacy.

https://p.dw.com/p/18Bwd

The hidden cameras are capable of recording what sort of people look where for how long. That's useful information for market research, as it could allow retailers to better steer customers through stores and to optimize shopping incentives. Normally this sort of technology is used to detect criminals in airports so this usage of it is controversial, especially as small stickers are all that alert shoppers to the fact that they're being watched.