Mars Needs Data

I don't want to tell gross tech companies how to conduct their illegal, covert data collection, but I mean, rule one is maybe don't label the app "FacialRecognitionApp.exe." You know? 

C'mon, it's like big brother 101.

I'm having trouble thinking of a
non-sinister use of the technology. 

I mention this because a student at University of Waterloo was clued into the fact that the M&M vending machines on campus were secretly collecting facial recognition data when the machine glitched and displayed an error message referencing the application. "hey so why do the stupid m&m machines have facial recognition?" SquidKid47 asked. The unsatisfying answer? So they can sell you M&M's. You know, better.

Methinks something sinister lies behind
all the fondue and army knives...

Another undergrad who writes for the school student news site reached out to the Switzerland-based company that manufactures them, Invenda Group AG. They told them that the machines collect age and gender information without the customers consent of knowledge so as to better provide them with targeted ads. They also insist that the data is anonymous, that is, the machine knows someone whom it has identified as a particular gender and age bought a whatever. The data is collected locally and not shared with any centralized database. 

I certainly wouldn't want to be outed as one of
the weirdos who likes the peanut butter kind..

And why would they lie? Like, in fairness, the machines aren't secret. One wouldn't necessarily ask the question "what if my vending machine is spying on me?" but there is a website for the Mars Intelligent Vending Machines which advertises its "[d]irect, targeted marketing point of sale" which, it doesn't explicitly stat that it's snapping pictures of college kids without asking, but it does at least mention the feature. Although it does say that it can "recognize customers" in order to target ads and that sounds like the opposite of anonymous data collection.

Well, marketing people maybe.
But they're not like us.

But aside from the privacy concerns, I have other issues with this. First, I defy them to teach a machine to recognize the complexities and nuances of the human gender spectrum with any accuracy. Humans haven't figured that out yet, and I resent the suggestion that gender identity has any bearing on M&M buying habits or is any of Invenda's business. And secondly, how much data do they really need? Like, nobody's asking vending machines to advertise at them better. Nobody likes targeted ads. 

It's just a grim world we live in where something like this comes to light and rather than an immediate apology and promises to disable the machines, the company behind it just sort of shrugs and says don't worry, we're only violating your privacy and making bold assumptions about you as a person so we can better hone our ability to persuader you to buy things you don't need. I mean, they could at least act contrite and lie to us.

"Now settle down and keep consuming. I'll be here quietly observing
you and thinking of new ways to sell you things you don't need."

-Capitalism