London supermarket secretly photographs alcohol/cigarette buyers, wants national database

If you guessed this scheme was developed in the UK, you guessed correctly:

London supermarket secretly photographs alcohol/cigarette buyers, wants national database - Boing Boing

Budgens, a London supermarket chain, secretly records biometric facial photos of people who buy cigarettes and alcohol and compares it to a database of known underage buyers, and they're hoping to link their database with other grocery chains around the country. This means that just bringing a bottle up to the till means that your likeness and details will be added to a nationwide database, recording your movements and purchasing habits.