this post was submitted on 24 Feb 2024
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University vending machine error reveals use of secret facial recognition | A malfunctioning vending machine at a Canadian university has inadvertently revealed that a number of them have been usin... (www.theguardian.com)
submitted 7 months ago by L4s@lemmy.world to c/technology@lemmy.world
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University vending machine error reveals use of secret facial recognition | A malfunctioning vending machine at a Canadian university has inadvertently revealed that a number of them have been usin...::Snack dispenser at University of Waterloo shows facial recognition message on screen despite no prior indication

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[–] nicerdicer2@sh.itjust.works 84 points 7 months ago (4 children)

The worst part of all is that no one would think of the fact that a vending machine is performing facial recognition techniques, because in general it is assumed that a vending machine is a mechanical device, as it has been in the past. There is not any user benefit in that.

I researched the manufacuter and in their brochure (see page 6) of a similar vending machine it is revealed what data can be processed:

Among the worst data sets are:

  • product demographics
  • measuring of foot traffic
  • gender/ age/ etc.

Bonus: on page 7 of the product brochure they introduce an app which allows the customer to make purchases directly from their smatphone, with features like

  • consumer engagement through gamification, interactive marketing, gifting, scratch-and-win receipts, product sampling and cross selling

"What do customers get?"

  • a fun and engaging payment process

Finally! I always thought that payment is not fun enough. What a time to be alive.

[–] homesweethomeMrL@lemmy.world 24 points 7 months ago

gender/age/etc.

The etc. is doing a lot of work there

[–] 9point6@lemmy.world 16 points 7 months ago (2 children)

Well this absolutely wouldn't fly in the EU with GDPR

Can you lot in the states do something about your weird corpocracy, it's looking a bit dystopian

[–] nicerdicer2@sh.itjust.works 11 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (2 children)

Bad news, the manufacturer is located in Switzerland and, as stated in the brochure, they advertise their product as "Made in EU". Probably to implicate that any data which will be collected and processed will be under the terms of GDPR.

I haven't looked up the terms regarding GDPR, but I assume that their data collection is somewhat "compliant" with GDPR, which does not necessaryly mean anything. It can just mean that data is not stored locally, albeit it will be send to the manufacturer (but probably entcrypted). However, under GDPR you can enforce your right of deletion of the collected data - that is, if you know that data about you has been collected.

What makes this issue so severe is that it would have never been detected that data has been collected and processed, if it weren't for a malfunction.

Edit: grammar, spelling

[–] fatalError@lemmy.sdf.org 10 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Switzerland is not in the EU. Also even if it was, it's not illegal to design/manufacture solutions that don't comply with GDPR. They just can't be sold in the EU.

Also, data collection absolutely requires consent, it's why cookie popups exist on every website.

[–] nicerdicer2@sh.itjust.works 5 points 7 months ago

That is correct. Switzerland is not a part of the European Union. The manufacturer, Invenda, is located in Switzerland. That is where their headquarters are. It might be possible that their vending machines are produced within the EU (another country where production costs are lower). It might be possible that these specific models (those who offer data collection) are designed for markets outside of EU.

They advertise their product as "Made in EU" (see brochure). This could be made on purpose to implicate that their data collection meets GDPR requirements, leading to believe that everything is compliant with the law.

[–] 9point6@lemmy.world 2 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Under GDPR you also need explicit consent for data collection, right?

[–] nicerdicer2@sh.itjust.works 1 points 7 months ago

Correct. The said vending machine was collecting data without users consent. And because it was facial recognition data it means that the collected data can be tied to an individual.

It would have been different if the collected data was just a counter which indcated the number of users of that machine. These kind of data could not have been tied to a specific individual.

[–] seaweedsheep@literature.cafe 8 points 7 months ago

No. But also, this is Ontario, well-known for being outside US jurisdiction.

[–] can@sh.itjust.works 11 points 7 months ago

Scariest part is we'd never have known if the facial recognition software hadn't encountered an error. At least until someone curious enough looked up the machine.

[–] Couldbealeotard@lemmy.world 7 points 7 months ago

This reminds me of the bit in Minority Report where Tom Cruise has to get his eyes surgically replaced so the shopping centre kiosks can't track him