Do you remember the time when you couldn't walk to the shops without someone recognising you? With the breakdown of modern society, you may have thought those days were gone, but they're coming back, sort of. Supermarkets are installing facial recognition cameras to try to stop the worst shoplifters. It won't lead to a chat and a catch-up, but at least someone will still know who you are. Sainsbury's already has them in 55 stores and is rolling them out to 200 by Christmas. Tesco, M&S, Boots and Primark are already using a related system that photographs shoplifters and shares the images with a database accessible to police. The case for this is straightforward. Shoplifting offences hit 530,000 in England and Wales last year, a record high, up 20% from the year before. Store workers experience 1,600 incidents of abuse and violence every single day. It makes sense to have a system to identify those bad people. When a store works out that such a criminal has walked into their store, they can send a security guard to stand near them while they shoplift and do absolutely nothing about it, but at least they don't have to find out about it after the fact. I understand the argument for it. I also understand that every time I walk into a Sainsbury's, my face is now being scanned and compared against a database. They say the non-matches are deleted instantly, but I have to take Sainsbury's word for it, which is the same Sainsbury's that charged me £3.90 for a sandwich last Tuesday. Supermarkets already use cameras to show you your own face on a little screen when you're using the self-scan. Presumably, that's to put you off shoplifting, but it just reminds me how bald I look. I walk in