An 18-year-old New York resident Ousmane Bah has sued Apple for $1 billion. Apple’s in-store facial recognition feature mistakenly linked Bah as one of the thieves behind a series of Apple Store thefts.

He was arrested in November last year in New York and charged for stealing from an Apple Store. The arrest warrant included a photo of the thief which did not match with that of Bah. It is due to this that the 18-year-old is suing Apple. In his complaint, Bah says that “he was forced to respond to multiple false allegations which led to severe stress and hardship.”

Bah says that he lost his non-photo learner’s permit which might have been used by the thief for identification purposes in Apple stores. Apple’s in-store facial recognition system ended up using this data to link Bah’s identity to that of the thief.

Robbery in Apple stores is extremely common and costs Apple millions of dollars every year. The company employs in-store facial recognition inside its retail stores to help track down thieves and suspected culprits in such cases.

Apple has declined to comment on the matter. Given the hardship that Bah has faced due to an error on Apple’s part and the police, he is right to seek compensation from the Cupertino company for the harassment. However, $1 billion is a bit too much and if the case does go into a trial, I expect the damage amount to be reduced significantly by the court.

We Want to Hear From You

Do you think Bah is right in suing Apple for $1 billion for the harassment he had to go through because of a mistake on Apple’s part?

[Via Bloomberg]

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