Privacy

31954 readers

486 users here now

A place to discuss privacy and freedom in the digital world.

Privacy has become a very important issue in modern society, with companies and governments constantly abusing their power, more and more people are waking up to the importance of digital privacy.

In this community everyone is welcome to post links and discuss topics related to privacy.

Some Rules

Posting a link to a website containing tracking isn't great, if contents of the website are behind a paywall maybe copy them into the post
Don't promote proprietary software
Try to keep things on topic
If you have a question, please try searching for previous discussions, maybe it has already been answered
Reposts are fine, but should have at least a couple of weeks in between so that the post can reach a new audience
Be nice :)

Related communities

Chat rooms

[Matrix/Element]Dead
Discord

much thanks to @gary_host_laptop for the logo design :)

founded 5 years ago

MODERATORS

819

'Facial recognition' error message on vending machine sparks concern at University of Waterloo (kitchener.ctvnews.ca)

submitted 8 months ago by Ninjazzon@infosec.pub to c/privacy@lemmy.ml

145 comments fedilink hide all child comments

A set of smart vending machines at the University of Waterloo is expected to be removed from campus after students raised privacy concerns about their software.

The machines have M&M artwork on them and sell chocolate and other candy. They are located throughout campus, including in the Modern Languages building and Hagey Hall.

Earlier this month, a student noticed an error message on one of the machines in the Modern Languages building. It appeared to indicate there was a problem with a facial recognition application.

"We wouldn't have known if it weren't for the application error. There's no warning here," said River Stanley, a fourth-year student, who investigated the machines for an article in the university publication, mathNEWS.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] Powerpoint@lemmy.ca 62 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Apathy is a bullshit response

[+] Rodeo@lemmy.ca -19 points 8 months ago (2 children)

It's not apathy, it's an observation of the legal status of the situation.

Legally, you have no reasonable expectations of privacy in a public space, and as such anyone is free to record you. I don't think fingerprint data being collected from devices available to the public has been tried in court yet, but audio and video recordings certainly have been.

It's actually a good thing. Imagine if it was illegal for you to video cops.

[–] Death_Equity@lemmy.world 4 points 8 months ago

Most states do not have any laws which restrict how biometrics are used. So using your fingerprint, face, or iris to checkout at the store doesn't have any protections that would prevent that biometric data from being sent somewhere else, including the police. A store could gather facial or even iris data from a camera and you would have no idea because they don't have to tell you.

Worse is that most people don't see the problem with the digital panopticon because "they haven't done anything wrong" and they are willing to give up their data for the idea of a theoretical safety.

[–] kilgore_trout@feddit.it 1 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Because the United States are the only country in the world.

In Italy it is illegal to share recordings in public without the recorded people's consent.

"Cops" are public servants, as such it is always allowed to record and share.

[–] Rodeo@lemmy.ca 2 points 8 months ago

This university is in Canada, genius. Those are the laws in Canada.