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.

AND they might have had miniature cameras in them for the past 20 years.

(The laws against this stuff are almost non-existing. Option left for those of us creeped out by constant surveillance: don't leave home, unplug that webcam. Demand privacy or lose it.)

Hey hey - y'all quit hanging around the vending machines! You're going to be late for the two minutes of hate!

This is the best summary I could come up with:

A malfunctioning vending machine at a Canadian university has inadvertently revealed that a number of them have been using facial recognition technology in secret.

Invenda, the company that produces the machines, advertises its use of “demographic detection software”, which it says can determine gender and age of customers.

It claims the technology is compliant with GDPR, the European Union’s privacy standards, but it is unclear whether it meets Canadian equivalents.

In April, the national retailer Canadian Tire ran afoul of privacy laws in British Columbia after it used facial recognition technology without notifying customers.

The government’s privacy commissioner said that even if the stores had obtained permission, the company failed to show a reasonable purpose for collecting facial information.

The University of Waterloo pledged in a statement to remove the Invenda machines “as soon as possible”, and that in the interim, it had “asked that the software be disabled”.

The original article contains 258 words, the summary contains 149 words. Saved 42%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!

This seems like an over reaction by people who don't understand the technology or associated risks. Focus on the implementation not the tech. There is no indication that the vending machine is inappropriatly storing or transmitting personally identifiable information or that its making decisions based on biased data.

Everyone seems concerned about what it could be doing, not what it is doing.

I could sit next to a vending machine and make notes on the gender and sex of each patron for demographic purposes, nothing would be illegal.

Why? Well, that's easy, I want to stock my vending machine in order to make money. Instead of testing different layouts which would take a lot of time, I could predict how well certain stock would do based on preexisting market research.

This appears to be just that, but with a camera.

Now, you can argue "but it could be worse"! That's not a valid argument. It could always be worse for things you don't know about. If it holds up to be true, as stated, it's just what it is.