An 18-year-old New Yorker is suing the company that Steve Jobs‘ built for a smooth 1 Billion (insert Dr.Evli laugh) dollars after being falsely arrested claiming Apple’s face recognition software falsely linked him to a string of store robberies.

Ousmane Bah was arrested by the NYPD November 29th after he was falsely linked to series of robberies at Apple Stores in Boston, New York, New Jersey, and Deleware. The real culprit apparently used a stolen ID that had the teenager’s personal information including his name and address but did not have his photo on it. That’s where the lawsuit comes in. It claims that since the ID lacked a picture, Apple programmed its facial recognition software to associate the real thief’s face with Bah’s personal info.

Here’s the catch though, in a statement to Engadget, Apple states it stores do not use facial recognition technology.

Bah was cleared when an NYPD detective discovered that the teenager did not look anything like the real suspect after going over surveillance footage. The teen also had a rock-solid alibi because he was attending his senior prom in Manhattan while the thief made off with $1,200 in Apple goods in Boston.

The New York Post shared the exact details of the lawsuit against Apple, and it states:

“Use of facial recognition software in its stores to track individuals suspected of theft is the type of Orwellian surveillance that consumers fear, particularly as it can be assumed that the majority of consumers are not aware that their faces are secretly being analyzed.”

Bah’s case is looking a bit shaky in the light due to the fact Apple has come out saying they don’t use facial recognition software. It’s going to be quite interesting to see how this plays out in court. Do you believe the teenager has a good case against the tech giant? Let us know in the comment section below.

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Photo: VCG / Getty

Source: HipHopWired.com

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