With the full-scale rollout of Japan's cigarette vending machine age-verification system just around the corner, a Sankei Sports news reporter has confirmed the existence of a minor flaw: magazine photos can be used to fool the age-verification cameras on some machines.
When the reporter went to check out the new age-verifying machines after they were introduced in the Osaka area in June, he soon discovered that the machines equipped with face-recognition cameras would let him buy cigarettes when he held up a 15-centimeter (6-in) wide magazine photo of a man who looked to be in his 50s.
The reporter also went to Kobe, where different face recognition hardware is being used. There, he bought cigarettes using an 8-centimeter (3-in) wide magazine photo of a female celebrity in her 30s. He also reportedly tried to use a 3-centimeter (1-in) wide photo, but the machines rejected it.
As part of the age-verification system, most of Japan's 570,000 cigarette vending machines are being outfitted with RFID readers that check the purchaser's Taspo age-verification card. Smokers without a Taspo card can now either buy their cigarettes in person over the counter or use one of 4,000 special machines equipped with face-recognition systems (these machines do not require Taspo cards). More face-recognition machines are on the way, according to vending machine manufacturer Fujitaka, who developed the face-recognition hardware.
The face-recognition machines rely on cameras that scan the purchaser's face for wrinkles, sagging skin and other signs of age. Facial characteristics are compared with a database of more than 100,000 people, and if the purchaser is thought to be well over 20 years old (the legal age), the sale is approved. If the purchaser looks too young, they are asked to prove their age by inserting a driver's license. According to Fujitaka, the machines are 90% accurate.
Fujitaka admits that people may, on occasion, be able to fool the age-verification cameras with photographs -- but only for the time being. The company is now working on a more advanced system that will make sure each face belongs to a real human, but they are unable to say when these new machines will be put into place.
[Source: Sanspo]
chris s
The reason systems like this will ultimately fail is because there will always be people out there who'll facilitate the sale of illegal goods to those who can't buy them. Unfortunately, the only surefire way to prevent that is to institute a system where age and identity are verified before each item is used. Since that kind of system will most definitely result in the end of personal freedom as it exists today, one of two extreme situations will eventually occur; either the people revolt against their governing body, or we end up in a world where our every move and motive are constantly under a microscope. I personally wouldn't want either scenario to play out, but a system like this only fosters that kind of fear along that much quicker.
[]website design
product of great japanese engineering lol.
[]Chris_B
Wonder if one of those Koizumi masks would do the trick?
[]shunichirou
well, it all depends on the person their selves... whether they want to cheat or not about smoking
[]Axman
ok, if you dont look old enough, you have to insert an ID or drivers licence for proof, why not get rid of the face recog thing and just make everyone use their ID, save billions of dollars
[]teheatah
Yeah that's make sense too. But you just as easily snag a ID off a older person or get a fake iD.
[]Landscape photography
Haha this is pretty funny but interesting. They can actually use artificial intelligence to compare the caracteristics of the face using neural Networks. i've been doing some kind of image processing in Uni using this kind of technology, pretty promissing, but not perfect...
[]John
Great post, thanks!!
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[]jake
lol i love when people spend tons of cash on this type of thing and it fails
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