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Face-recognizing vending machines foiled... for now

Tue, 2008-07-01 12:34 — tekro
Fujitaka's spoofable vending machines

Vending machines, those big gadgets lining streets everywhere, have long been criticized for one problem: they'll cheerfully dish up alcohol or tobacco to any schoolkid with a pocketful of change. Consequently, the nation is now refitting nearly 600,000 cigarette machines to require a "Taspo" age verification card for purchase.

Customers without a Taspo card can head for one of 4000 new machines that use cameras and facial-recognition software to determine (that is, take a guess at) whether the buyer meets the age limit. But right now, underage smokers are having a laugh a the machines' expense: it turns out that if you just show the camera a magazine photo of an oldster, there's every chance that the machine will happily hand over the smokes. The manufacturer of the vending machines, Fujitaka, claims to be hard at work on a version that won't be fooled by photos.
http://www.sanspo.com/shakai/news/080624/sha0806240502003-n1.htm

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