Luxury retailers are replacing fitting room mirrors with high-tech cameras


Good news, well-heeled shoppers with no privacy concerns! "The fitting room is going digital," The Associated Press reports. That means instead of mirrors like those commoners at Old Navy have to use, shoppers at Bloomingdale's and Rebecca Minkoff will get high-tech, touch-sensitive, full-length screens with cameras that allow them to order new clothes from the hired help and even change the color of their outfit digitally.
Privacy advocates point out that the boutiques and posh department stores may be using the technology to gather more information about you and your shopping habits. Missing from the critique is that the rich and famous will be changing clothes in front of a camera. Also, be sure to note that the CEO of the skeptical Center for Democracy and Technology has a light saber in the vase by the window. —Peter Weber
Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.
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