Magazine Photos Fool Age-verification Cameras

gregor-e writes "Japan has scheduled a full-scale rollout of visual age-verification on cigarette vending machines. Unfortunately for them, a Sankei Sports news reporter has determined that this system can be fooled by holding up a magazine photo of an adult."

Comments

Re:not a big surprise

[cyphercell]

I'm one of those adults. I'm 28 and if I walk around with a backpack on I will get pulled over for smoking. been pulled over for curfew, ditching class etc. I would be pretty annoyed if I had to carry around a fake beard just to buy cigs.

Re:Complex systems, simple workaround

[MilesAttacca]

Actually, in Japan you can not only buy beer and pornography from vending machines, you can also buy used panties...

Re:Complex systems, simple workaround

[kesuki]

no, the truth of the matter is, they're just panties scented with the popular perfumes that are in vogue with highschool girls, with a statement that they're used' but it's rteally just marketing, it's much cheaper to buy perfume, spray it in a pair of cheap panties and package it in a machine as 'used' panties. actually using used panties would be gross, it's all about the 'image' people think they're really used by high school girls, and the perfume makes the buyer shell out the equivalent $80 got a $4 item, they think because it's perfumed that it's been warn, especially since the machine has big signs saying so!

most likely the item was dreamed up by some yakuza thug, of how to turn $4 into $80. I bet it's quite profitable.

Re:Age-controlled vending machines have a place

[kumanopuusan]

They don't always require a license because most people don't have licenses. Getting a license is a multi-month, several thousand dollar (or several hundred thousand yen, actually) ordeal. People that don't live in rural areas don't need cars and in congestion choked cities, cars are mostly luxury items.

The article is pretty skewed. The real story is that Taspo is starting July 1st. Taspo is a card based system that doesn't use any age verification. It's being deployed nationwide. You have to apply for a Taspo card using some form of state-issued photo identification. Maybe there's a weak link in the application procedure, but only one card is issued per person and cards that have been lost or are being abused can be disabled remotely. The article says that there will be 4000 age verification machines (in a country of 130 million), but I've never seen one. Every day, I see dozens of machines that say Taspo will be required starting July 1st. All the smokers I know have Taspo cards.