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Vending machine error reveals secret face image database of college students (arstechnica.com)

submitted 7 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Facial-recognition data is typically used to prompt more vending machine sales.

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[–] [email protected] 19 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (2 children)

Sure that's their claim but they're not asking 'why have that type of tech anyways'.

If it's supposed to just act as a motion sensor, we've had those for decades. None of which needed to register if it was a face or not. Why isn't the purchasing interface just always there, why is it an interface, and why is it not just a button that says press to start...

Why is there a computer in there that's been trained on how to recognize what a face is in order to open up a purchasing interface. What would be the point of investing that much research and development if it was just doing something that could have been accomplished in the '90s with tech that you could have bought it radio shack.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 6 months ago

From the side of someone who works heavily in data analysis and application databases I can tell you it would be very, very easy to see if it was just a front end application using the data or storing it in a database. There are use cases for both setups, absolutely, but a cursory examination of the machine in question would make it abundantly clear which it was doing.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 6 months ago

Article says "the machines are capable of sending estimated ages and genders" so it's not recognizing individuals, but perhaps adjusting the sales pitch for who it sees walking by.

(But it's a collage campus, so most students will be around the same age. Maybe it pitches different things to teachers?)