Ousmane Bah, an 18-year-old college student from New York, is suing Apple for $1 billion, claiming that the company used facial recognition in its stores in a way that led to his wrongful arrest. He was accused of stealing from multiple Apple Stores and was arrested at his home in November. It all began when Bah was still a high-school student and received a summons from a court accusing him of stealing $1,200 worth of items (Apple Pencils) from an Apple Store in Boston. According to the suit, the teen had never been to Boston and was attending his senior prom in Manhattan on the day authorities said the theft took place. He was then later accused of additional thefts from Apple Stores in New Jersey, Delaware, and New York City. Read more for another video and additional information.
“The lawsuit says an NYPD detective determined that Bah had been wrongfully arrested, viewing surveillance footage from the store and seeing that the suspect looked “nothing like” Bah. According to the lawsuit, the detective then told Bah the problem might involve Apple’s facial recognition, saying Apple’s security technology ‘identifies suspects of theft using facial recognition technology.’ The detective also suspected that the real thief might have used Bah’s driver’s permit, which he had lost, as ID during one of the offenses, thereby linking Bah to the crimes in Apple’s systems,” reports Business Insider.
