Vending machines to be removed from UWaterloo campus over facial tech concerns

A southwestern Ontario university says it will be getting rid of more than two dozen vending machines after students raised concerns about facial recognition technology.

The University of Waterloo says it began looking into the issue after seeing students flag it on social media.

The university says it was unaware of the technology and has asked that it be disabled until the machines are removed.

It says the 29 machines had recently been installed across campus.

In a statement, university spokesperson Rebecca Elming thanked students for bringing the issue to the school’s attention and said the university has asked that the machines be removed from campus “as soon as possible.”

Neither the company behind the machines, Invenda, nor their operator immediately responded to a request for comment.

The issue was flagged by students on a Reddit forum earlier this month, when someone posted a photo of one of the machines displaying an error message apparently related to a facial recognition program.

An article on the topic was published in a student publication about a week later, stressing the need for “express, meaningful consent” when such technologies are used.

The machines’ operator, Adaria Vending Services, told the publication MathNews the technology acts as a motion sensor to know when to activate the screen for purchases.

Invenda, meanwhile, told the publication the machines don’t engage in “storage, communication, or transmission of any imagery or personally identifiable information.”

The article notes, however, that a FAQ from Invenda says “only the final data, namely presence of person, estimated age and estimated gender, is collected without any association with an individual.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 27, 2024.