Talk about spies are everywhere

There's plenty of technology to be worried about, and right on the outer end of the scary scale is facial recognition.

Sure, it's terrific that it can and will be used to solve crimes, and if it can speed you through security and passport control at the airport, yipee! But there's plenty of downside. Facial recognition tech is getting better, but it's not as effective with Black faces as it is with white. This may not seem like such a big deal until you factor in the costs to individuals and society when Blacks are erroneously charged with and convicted of crimes based on problematic software algorithms. 

Then there's the potential - especially if we lurch into fascism - for facial recognition to identify anyone with the courage (or the temerity) to hit the streets to protest the government.

And now the latest thing to worry about is facial recognition software used in smart vending machines. 

Not that I use them all that often, but who doesn't want a vending machine smart enough not to let the Chuckles you just paid $1.25 for get caught up in the coil and refuse to drop down, resulting in your injuring your wrist and/or shoulder slamming it against the vending machine's Lexan window in a failed attempt to dislodge those Chuckles. Not that I know anyone that this has happened to...

And if vending machines were smart enough to alert the vending machine company that the Heath Bars slot was empty while - swell! - there were still more than enough rolls of Starbursts to feed an army, that would be good, too. (As long as the vending machine company acted on it.)

So, if vending machines were a tiny bit smarter, that would be a good thing.

But why do vending machines have to come equipped with facial recognition technology?

What's that technology going to be used for? Surely, there's already a security camera poised overhead to capture who damaged the Lexan, alongs ith their hand and/or shoulder, when the Chuckles failed to launch. Or to figure out thett culprits who, in a drunken spree, trashed the machine in its entirety. 

Anyway, a student at Canada's Univeristy of Waterloo figured out that the Invenda machines dispensing Mars/M&M's on campus were using facial recognition.

It all started when someone posted a pic on Reddit showing a vending machine error message -  "Invenda.Vending.Facial RecognitionApp.exe" - indicating that facial recognition was in use.

Waterloo student River Stanley, who writes for the University's Math NEWS, turned sleuth.

Stanley sounded the alarm after consulting Invenda sales brochures that promised "the machines are capable of sending estimated ages and genders" of every person who used the machines—without ever requesting their consent. (Source: Ars Technica)

Well, I guess they just wanted to figure out whether men preferred Snickers while women liked M&M's, and whether more men than women used a certain vending machine and stock accordingly. And that seeems like an innocuous enough use case.

Still, there's an awful creepy downside if we now have to worry about a candy machine spying on you.

Oh, but not to worry.

Both Adaria Vending Services, which stocks the machines, and Invenda, which manufactures them, jumped in with all sorts of assurances. 

Adaria Vending Services told MathNEWS that "what’s most important to understand is that the machines do not take or store any photos or images, and an individual person cannot be identified using the technology in the machines. 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."

"Activate the purchasing interface"? Huh? Why does the "purchase of interface" have to be activated? Shouldn't you just be able to walk up to the machine, scan the rows, and press E2 or B7 or whatever slot holds the goody you're after?

And why do you need facial recognition technology here? Isn't this use case what plain vanilla motion detection sensors can be used for ?

Anyway, there's a bit more from Invenda:

An Invenda spokesperson told Ars that "Invenda operates under strict policy and does not collect any user data or photos, ensuring individual identification via machine technology is unattainable. The software relies on people detection and facial analysis, not face recognition."

"This means, people detection solely identifies the presence of individuals whereas, facial recognition goes further to discern and specify individual persons," Invenda's spokesperson said. "Additionally, the Invenda solution can only determine if an anonymous individual faces the device, for what duration, and approximates basic demographic attributes unidentifiably. The vending machine technology functions as a motion sensor, activating the purchasing interface upon detecting individuals, without the capability to capture, retain, or transmit imagery. Data acquisition is limited to assessing foot traffic at the vending machine and transactional conversion rates. These systems adhere rigorously to GDPR regulations and refrain expressly from managing, retaining, or processing any personally identifiable information."

Data acquisition, blech.

Sometimes big data drives me crazy. Foot traffic. Transactional conversion rates. Wouldn't just plain knowing what items sell vs. the ones that grow stale, which you get by counting on your fingers and toes - admittedly a form of digital - be enough to figure out what to put in the vending machines? Makes me glad I'm not in marketing anymore. 

(BTW, GDPR = EU General Data Protection Regulation.)

So the Invenda machines aren't being used for nefarious purposes - yet, anyway - but does this make it okay? I used to be cash-only at CVS and the grocery store because I didn't want them knowing what toothpaste I like, or what brand of peanut buter I buy. I gave up and started using a charge or debit card, just because it's more convenient. But if I didn't a store knowing my purchase habits - a complete, IMHO, invasion of privacty - I sure don't want a vending machine scanning my face and figuring out how I impulse buy my snacks.

Meanwhile, the University of Waterloo - due to student demand - is having the Invenda machines removed and replaced by vending machines with lower IQs. 

The takeover of facial recognition seems (sadly) inevitable, but for now: good for the University of Waterloo!