The British clothing group Frasers, owner of Sports Direct and a candidate to take control of Go Sport in France, is singled out by UK MPs, who criticize it for the use of facial recognition in certain Channel stores.

“A coalition of parliamentarians and human rights organizations have called on the Frasers Group to end the use of facial recognition surveillance in its stores,” according to a statement issued Monday by Britain’s Big Brother Watch organization.

Three human rights organizations and some 40 British MPs, mostly from opposition Labor and Liberal Democrats, wrote a letter to Michael Murray, chief executive of Frasers Group, and the group’s founder, British clothing magnate Mike Ashley.

“The use of facial recognition technology for surveillance purposes is deeply divisive and threatens the privacy and data rights of its clients,” the signatories say in the letter dated Sunday.

“Live facial recognition technology has shown privacy concerns, inaccuracies, and discrimination based on race and gender,” and “treats anyone who walks in front of the camera as a potential criminal,” they denounce.

Frasers Group is not alone in its use of facial recognition in the UK. Its service provider, the British company Facewatch, mentions in particular on its website the convenience stores Spar or Costcutter, or even the supermarket chain Budgens.

In France, facial recognition in public spaces is strictly regulated, requires the explicit consent of people and an important public interest, the Cnil reminded AFP in February, specifying that it had been authorized, for example, for border gates. , but that the government had stopped using it for the Olympic Games.

The Daily Mail reported in March that Frasers Group had “installed biometric cameras that scan shoppers’ faces and match them against a database of suspected criminals” in at least 27 of the UK’s 950 total stores.

Contacted by AFP, Frasers Group had not responded by the end of the day on Monday.

The Grenoble commercial court examined Go Sport’s takeover bids last week and reserved its decision on April 28. Two offers, out of twenty, have focused the hopes of the employees: those of Frasers and Intersport France.