Yeah, IF the surveillance footage was still around.
Now, what most people don’t know, Walmart IS implementing a system that ties the video footage of your checkout to your receipt. Given that you can return in 90 days, I’d guess the video footage is kept at least that long, too.
Other stores are implementing this system.
In fact, one guy on Forensic Files bought something he used in a murder. They found him on the Wal*Mart footage buying the item.
Although I didn’t agree with everything Grant Jeffrey wrote, I always wanted to read his book “Surveillance Society” (IIRC). And that’s now 20 years out-of-date.
“Given that you can return in 90 days, I’d guess the video footage is kept at least that long, too.”
Yes, and it was 95 days since the crime when the police went to the local WalMart to see who used my mother’s stolen credit card. No video. We found out a different way, but the prosecutor wouldn’t charge without the video evidence.
There is one area of surveillance that I agree with and to my knowledge is not being implemented and that is in prisons. I do not think there should be anywhere that an inmate can be where they are not recorded, preferably from multiple angles. I realize that it would produce a torrent of data, but they way AI is going it would be just a matter of time before any activity could be analyzed and understood by machine. Prisons would be far safer and illicit activities reduced to the minimum possible level.