Technology

On the one hand, I can totally understand that there is a difference between recognizing a face and recognizing your face. Algorithms that recognize a face are really easy to implement now.

On the other hand, though, why should a vending machine need to recognize a face? So it shuts off it's lighting when no one is looking at it? I'm not sure if there is any practical benefit besides some project manager justifying a new feature with buzzword-compliant tech.

I believe the company when they say there is nothing problematic here, but they deserve the bad press for thinking it would be a good idea in the first place.

Based on the quotes from the vending company, at first I thought this was just a dumb way to detect when a human is standing there. But it’s worse than that.

So first we get this from a company representative:

The technology acts as a motion sensor that detects faces, so the machine knows when to activate the purchasing interface

Ok, fine. Overkill, but fine. But then their company’s FAQ tells us this:

only the final data, namely presence of a person, estimated age and estimated gender, is collected without any association with an individual.

So they ARE collecting data, and they are trying to obfuscate that fact by saying they are just “activating the purchasing interface”. This isn’t just turning on a lighted display when a person is standing there. “Activating the purchasing interface” means activating the algorithms to analyze my appearance. They are trying to figure out who is buying their product. That’s different.

So they are being shady about their true intentions. They aren’t being up front, and they expect us to trust that they aren’t storing or transmitting anything other than estimated age and sex. Hmm, maybe. But their actions don’t build trust.

Plus, now I have to worry about VENDING MACHINES getting hacked and being used as surveillance devices now too?? Can I just buy a candy bar without being reminded we live in a dystopia?

I'm surprised nobody has discussed the most obvious "marketing" use of this data: Differential pricing.

Someone walks up to the machine. Based on the image seen by the machine, they determine which product is most likely to sell, and bump that product's price up by a quarter or 50 cents.

If they're not doing it now, they're preparing to do it in the near future.

EDIT If you watch Invenda's marketing videos, they talk about how the 'optical sensor' provides a 'bespoke purchasing experience.'

Sounds exactly like dynamic pricing is their model.

A simple motion sensor would have sufficed. A classic example of someone getting excited about a Tech buzzword and cramming it into a product.

Lesson learned: don't name your surveillance tool EvilFaceRecognition.exe

As facial recognition becomes easier and cheaper, you are going to find it in all sorts of things. From your refrigerator to your child’s toy. Better get used to it, because that is the future. We should all invest in stickers to place on all the cameras, or guillotines… for the tech ceos

How about some consent and payment for my info? Swingy peephole cover thing over the camera. Offer a discount if the machine can take a picture of you. Oh that's right, it's only worth something when you amass a ton of the data. 0.004 cents off isn't that appealing is it?

It’s funny how much I love cyberpunk fiction but how much I hate cyberpunk reality. Now if the vending machine becomes sentient? Then we are good, until then I guess fuck these guys?

I wasn't against the idea of using facial recognition (age/gender) to do things like recommend products, where I first saw it in Japan on train station vending machines.

The difference is that in my example the camera was in a very obvious spot, here it seems it is covertly collecting facial recognition data, and users weren't aware it was happening until a student noticed this error.

This is the best summary I could come up with:

A university in Canada is expected to remove a series of vending machines from campus after a student discovered a sign they used facial recognition technology.

"The technology acts as a motion sensor that detects faces, so the machine knows when to activate the purchasing interface — never taking or storing images of customers."

"The software conducts local processing of digital image maps derived from the USB optical sensor in real-time, without storing such data on permanent memory mediums or transmitting it over the Internet to the Cloud."

Representatives for the University of Waterloo, Invenda Group, Adaria Vending Services, and Mars did not respond to Business Insider's request for comment sent over the weekend ahead of publication.

Facial recognition technology on college campuses is an ongoing tension point for students and staff members, with examples popping up globally.

Tensions heightened in March 2020 when students at dozens of US universities protested facial recognition on college campuses, The Guardian reported.

The original article contains 610 words, the summary contains 159 words. Saved 74%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!

A solution in search of a problem. They didn't need that tech for a payment interface.

Glad the college I went to is too cheap for these fancy things. Their vending machines are just barely smart enough to use tap pay, and by barely I sometimes it doesn't even work.

Honestly, what's the big deal? Your face is not secret and anyone who feels like it can photograph you while you're out in public. Vending machines already know who you are if you use a credit card.

However, this is a good reminder to programmers: customers might sometimes see your error messages even if you didn't intend them to. Don't write anything Marketing wouldn't like.