this post was submitted on 25 Feb 2024
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Public Blue Screens Of Death

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Public Blue Screens Of Death

Public displays and digital infrastructure software failing to do their job because of blue screens, crashes or other problems

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“Only because of that official investigation did Canadians learn that ‘over 5 million nonconsenting Canadians’ were scanned into Cadillac Fairview's database”. Wow.

This Wired article is contradictory. The spokesperson says:

“an individual person cannot be identified using the technology in the machines. The technology acts as a motion sensor that detects faces, so the machine knows when to activate the purchasing interface”

I suppose it’s possible that a sloppy developer would name an executable Invenda.Vending.FacialRecognitionApp.exe which merely senses the presence of a face. But it seems like a baldfaced lie when you consider that:

“Invenda sales brochures that promised ‘the machines are capable of sending estimated ages and genders’ of every person who used the machines—without ever requesting consent.”

Boycott Mars


I already boycott Mars because they are a GMA member and they spent ~$500k lobbying against #GMO labeling -- and they have been blackballed for using child slave labor -- and Mars supports Russia. This is another good reason to #boycottMars.

Update


Apparently a LemmyBug replaced the article URL with a picture URL. The article is here:

https://www.wired.com/story/facial-recognition-vending-machine-error-investigation/

The vending machine pic is here:

https://infosec.pub/pictrs/image/2041d717-7cd7-4393-94f3-96aa87817aa7.jpeg

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[–] Aqarius@lemmy.world 4 points 4 months ago (3 children)

You could just use the camera as a light sensor.

[–] coffeeClean@infosec.pub 1 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (2 children)

Ah, right.. so how can @ChicoSuave@lemmy.world’s team of activists limit their destruction to the camera functionality? I wonder if a laser could perhaps burn the CCD enough to ruin image capture but not to the extent that light sensing fails.

I guess the more practical attack would be to superglue a piece of transparent diffusing film over it. Light would still get through but it would just be a blur. Diffusing film can be harvested from LCD screens we often see in dumpsters lately. Or even just that milky type of Scotch tape. Along the same lines, a scribe could be used to scratch up the plastic sheet that protects the CCD.

[–] ChicoSuave@lemmy.world 1 points 4 months ago (1 children)

All of those require more materials than a simple pocket marker. We travel light and innocuous.

[–] coffeeClean@infosec.pub 1 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

Right but the marker would cause problems for non-intrusive vending machines which only use a light sensor to set the display intensity. Along the lines of that simplicity, a thin smudge of chapstick would do well.. simple and lightweight. Light could enter but not an image.