this post was submitted on 24 Feb 2024
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373
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 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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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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[–] [email protected] 66 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Mind explaining to me why a vending machine needs to know the demographics of its users?

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

I guess to collect data for advertisements and product development

[–] [email protected] 29 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It's installed at a university. Seems like you could make a pretty fucking good guess on the demographics of customers just based on that fact.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

Best answer

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Do you see a lot of advertising for vending machines?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

No, but for the companies that make the drinks

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Likely for general marketing feedback so not targeting individuals like Facebook, Google, etc. If the vending machine is GDPR compliant then it's not storing individuals PII on the machine (it would be physically insecure) or transmitting PII without consent. And anyway, the marketing team wouldn't care about individuals, they're looking for aggregate trends. I think we should have stricter anti-marketing laws but this is not a dangerous anti-privacy vector. Online marketing is far far worse so if we're concerned with privacy, let's implement laws and policies that protect privacy instead of these BS distractions that don't actually affect people's privacy.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Bananada has no GDPR

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

A damn shame too.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

List of countries for EU to invade:

  1. Russia
  2. USA
  3. Canada

Who next?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

That doesn’t change the claim that the vending machine is GDPR compliant, though.