Facial Recognition Application 'Error Message' Seen on an M&M Vending Machine in Waterloo Canada

Students at the University of Waterloo in Canada were surprised to find out when a smart vending machine displayed a computer error on a screen that indicated a facial recognition feature was not working correctly. This alarmed students because they didn't know their faces and likeness were being captured by facial recognition software on vending machines in the first place.

Facial Recognition Error Message credit: SquidKid47 on Reddit

CTV reported that "a set of smart vending machines at the University of Waterloo will be removed from campus after students raised privacy concerns about their software."

Facial Recognition Software Error Message Seen on a Smart Vending Machine

They were alerted to the facial recognition software after an error message displayed on the smart vending screen (seen above) that read: "The exception unknown software exception (0xe)434352) occurred in the application at location 0x00007FFAAC4F4C48."

In fact, if it wasn't for the error message, no one would have known about the built-in facial recognition software at all.

River Stanley, a student at the University of Waterloo said:

"We wouldn't have known if it weren't for the application error. There's no warning here."

Once the facial recognition error message started circulating online, students quickly began sharing it, and some students even tried to cover a hole on the machine where they thought the camera was located.

Student Dilpreet Sandhu questioned out of privacy concerns if there are other places where this technology is being used.

She said:

"[I’m] kind of shocked just because it's a vending machine, and I don't really think they need to be taking facial recognition. It is a university campus, so I feel like the general demographic is young adult. You know, late teens, early twenties."

The Smart Vending Machines on the University of Waterloo Campus are Being Removed

The smart vending machines with facial recognition software sold chocolates and other candy and had M&M artwork on them. At least one machine was located in the Modern Languages building and another in Hagey Hall. 

CTV reported that "a set of smart vending machines at the University of Waterloo will be removed from campus after students raised privacy concerns about their software."

The better question: 

Should these machines prominently display a message informing customers that they are being photographed?

Sources:

Wiens, Colton. "Facial recognition' error message on vending machine sparks concern at University of Waterloo." CTV. 22 Feb. 2024.

Newtown Gun Control Solution: We Need 'Smart' Guns

Gun with dynamic grip recognition technology

The New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) received $2 million seven years ago to develop a gun with a biometric locking mechanism that will only work with one owner. The 32 pressure sensors built into the gun's handle will only work with the registered owner grip. The handle recognizes the pattern, and is unlocked. It's called Dynamic Grip Recognition technology.

New York City Children's Choir

In the wake of the Newtown, Connecticut tragedy, SNL opened with a Silent Night tribute, featuring the New York City Children's Choir. Tastefully done.

Sandy Hook's elementary school experienced a shooting that forever changed that community, and left lawmakers wondering what they should do.

Before you say that gun control, taking away guns from law-abiding citizens is not a simple solution, and it leaves responsible people without a way to defend themselves.

The Newtown elementary shooter, Adam Lanza, reportedly took his mothers assault gun and handguns registered to his mother.

How do you stop something like this from happening again?

With smarter guns.

Don't take gun rights away from the people. Make the guns smart enough to recognize its owner.

James Bond with gun

In the latest James Bond movie, Q gives James a gun that will only fire when he holds the gun, thanks to high-tech biometric scanner in the gun. Rumors have it that even upcoming Apple products will have tech that locks out un-authorized users from gaining control.

Huffington Post shares this in a recent article:
"In the recent Bond movie, Skyfall, the throwback super agent is equipped with a handgun -- calibrated to his handprint -- that only fires when it is in his grip. In a scene where Bond loses the weapon, his life is saved when his enemy is unable to fire the weapon at him. Similar technology, fingerprint recognition, is available now and is used in many contexts: for example, in the workplace to clock workers in and out, on computers to limit unauthorized access, within door locks to prevent unwanted entry. Apple's recent pursuit of a company that specializes in this technology is fueling speculation that its devices will soon have a fingerprint recognition application to bar unauthorized use. If we will have the ability to limit access to Angry Birds through fingerprint scanning technology, surely we should adapt it to real-life killing machines."

I say: "Don't take guns away from everybody and anybody. Instead, make tougher restrictions to keep guns out of the hands of unauthorized and unstable people. For example, Canada has a 28-day waiting period when registering for a firearm, and two people must vouch for the person buying the gun.

We need to adopt something similar to Canada's requirements. But until then...we need smarter guns.