John,

Didn’t expect to be writing this sentence: Panera is getting into the surveillance business.

We learned last week that the soup-and-sandwich staple is installing Amazon’s palm scanning tech in their stores.¹ Why? Well… there’s no actual reason. Biometric surveillance doesn’t make it easier to get lunch. All it will do is extend Amazon’s watch over where we go and what we do. Tell Panera to quit normalizing the surveillance state and cancel their Amazon deal!

In Panera’s press release, they use tons of corporate-speak to defend their palm scanning plans.² But it’s not convenient or innovative to shove unnecessary tech into a store, especially when it puts customers at risk. Cloud-based biometric databases are huge targets for hackers, and Amazon has shown again and again that it can’t be trusted with our data.^3,4 This collaboration isn’t “tech forward.” It’s invasive, and it’s a massive safety hazard.

We understand on an intuitive level that “identity verification” shouldn’t be necessary to simply go through our daily lives. And it shows: Amazon’s palm scanning push is mostly limited to stores that Amazon already owns. That means we can pressure Panera to drop this contract.

Help us overwhelm Panera’s corporate team with petition signatures. Also: storm Panera Support by tweeting here. This is important: winning here will send a signal to other stores that surveillance everywhere isn’t normal.

Thanks,

Anna at ❤️ Fight

P.S. If you’re a Panera customer, loyalty member, and/or employee and are interested in being quoted about this, email me at [email protected].

Fight for the Future, PO Box 55071 #95005, Boston, MA 02205
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