Shops could soon be targeting ads according to your feet

As many as 30% of retailers are reportedly using facial recognition to track shoppers, but some are exploring less invasive tech - including shoe profiling

There are eyes on you, behind the bright lights and mirrored panels. Pick up a boot and a camera will make sure you don't slip it into your bag. Cross the threshold into a department store and there is a tacit understanding that you will be watched, but new technology is leading retailers to grow a different set of peepers - eyes less focused on shoplifting and more interested in your age, sex, size, head, shoulders, knees and toes. Knees and toes.

A few months ago, IT firm Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC) put out a report that claimed around 30% of retailers use facial recognition technology to track customers in-store. What is facial recognition? It is technology that can identify people by analysing and comparing facial features from a database. You may be familiar with it from Facebook's photo tagging, but similar techniques are now making their way into the physical world with devices such as Intel's RealSense cameras, which are able to analyse everything from particular expressions to the clothing brands someone is wearing.