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Facial Recognition Vending Machine Debuts
Peter Hanami writes "Yesterday in Japan, a facial recognition vending machine went on sale that can tell the age of the buyer based on a range of features including number of wrinkles, bone structure and how the skin sits on the face. It was developed as a way to stop minors from buying cigarettes from vending machines. In Japan, cigarette vending machines are a common feature on the street and presently few safeguards exist to stop younger users from purchasing them. This new machine is seen as a positive step to reduce under age smoking. If the machine doesnt deem the buyer to be of suitable age, 20 years old, the buyer must provide further identification such as a drivers licence."
And of course, what about people who look older than they actually are? I had a friend in high school who liked he was almost thirty before he even turned twenty.
This was obviously created in Japan with Japanese in mind. I am curious "out of the box" how it functions against other nationalities who's facial features are significantly different. I would suspect it would be unable to identify the age and require an identification card of some sort.
Well at least it is a fairly novel idea.
If it's that good, why don't they just require standard government ID and use the face recognizer to determine if the buyer is the person on the ID and let the ID provide the age?
http://www.amazon.com/Gag-Works-FAKE-MUSTACHE-WAY/dp/B0006GK08K
Engineering is the art of compromise.
How come no matter what button I push this damn vending machine keeps spitting out Clearasil?!
The enemies of Democracy are
Deny... me... my... cigarettes?!
Kamikaze the machine!
"The fight for freedom has only just begun." - Geert Wilders
So some kid takes a picture of his grandfather's face, prints it out on his color printer, and then holds the printout up in front of the camera. I wonder if the software will realize whether it's looking at a real face or not.
Slashdot: Failed Car Analogies. Amateur Lawyering. Anecdote Battles.
No, not for the vending machines, but so that blind-drunk guys can get a machines 'expert opinion' as to whether their prospective, er, 'date' is under age or not...
In the free world the media isn't government run; the government is media run.
I can recall when vending machines in Japan sold cigarettes, coffee, beer, condoms & pantyhose...all out of the same machine. As Slim would say "That's a goddamn 3 day vacation in Las Vegas".
:)
Some of the beer machines would power off at a certain time to try to discourage street drunks.
When asked what kept under age drinkers from using the beer vending machines, the locals would reply "well, they just don't..."
Certain enterprising business men would pay the local high school girls for used underwear. Then they would shrinkwrap them, along with a signed Polaroid and put them into those arcade 'claw' machines. Had a thriving business until the neighborhood moms began wondering why their daughters were always asking for new Hello Kitty undies. The moms went to the cops. The cops were stumped, at first, as they had a hard time finding a specific law on the books that the pre-owned-panty vendors were breaking.
Finally, the cops decided to apply an antiques law that says you have to be licensed accordingly for the sale of certain 'used' or aged goods. No permit to sell antiques? Come with us...you're under arrest - and don't forget the evidence
Well here is the Honne and the Tatemae (The real thing and the appearance or facade) of Japanese culture at work.
It is not about actually preventing minors from purchasing cigarettes, it about making the appearance of doing so. By making the appearance of oing so, these vending machines will continue to be allowed, and it may even stop them from being "turned off" at 11:00 PM as they are now. It may also allow Beer vending machines to make a comeback (they are still here, but in far fewer quantities than they used to be.)
Japan is about image, and showing that you are respecting the group consensus. Japan is not about actually making something foolproof.
I think they should just dispense condoms for free for whoever wants them in the pubs and clubs. The kind of people who hook up in these places are the ones we don't want reproducing
http://greenobyl.com/ please.... think of the children!!
Whats next? A machine that calculates your weight based on a picture it takes of you and if it deems you obese refuses to sell you a coke?
A lot of people in Japan don't have driver's licences.
Anyway, the whole idea is to make the transaction quick and not require the purchaser to find a card. It's an initiative by the cigarette machine makers to make their machines more acceptable, not by the government to reduce cigarette smoking by youngsters.
As far as I can tell, Japanese women between the ages of 14 and 32 all look the same age.
I browse Slashdot at +3, Funny
Why not just have people use their driver's license every time?
Because a lot of people don't have driver's licenses here, and thus there is no standard ID card to read, nor is there any requirement that you actually own one. A fair amount of people will actually use their bankbook or similar document, and for signatures you'd use a hanko.
Trust the Computer. The Computer is your friend.
Put a Vending Machine with masks of old people in it next to it. Intelligent kids can buy cigs for their friends and make a profit too. Everyone wins.
God spoke to me.
I've had enough smokers stand upwind, throw cigarette butts everywhere, walk around stinking like a smokestack, etc., that I just don't care if smokers are inconvenienced once in a while too.
http://outcampaign.org/