Magazine Photos Fool Age-verification Cameras 309
gregor-e writes "Japan has scheduled a full-scale rollout of visual age-verification on cigarette vending machines. Unfortunately for them, a Sankei Sports news reporter has determined that this system can be fooled by holding up a magazine photo of an adult."
Re:not a big surprise (Score:5, Informative)
Yes it would, and yes they do... (Score:5, Informative)
They are Japanese.
You really think THEY didn't come up with that technical idea by now?
TFA:
Re:Complex systems, simple workaround (Score:5, Informative)
Humans can't even do it properly... (Score:4, Informative)
So I don't know why any trust is given to a machine to guess someone's age based on the appearance of their face. A lot of retailers I've seen have a sign posted at the till that says they will ask for ID if you look under 35. 35! This enormous margin of error is due to the fact that you really can't tell if someone is over or under 18 without some seriously obvious clue. I was 30 before people stopped guessing my age to be 20. My neice was able to get service in a bar once at age 14, and it could easily be seen why.
Re:In my European country... (Score:4, Informative)
Problem But tobacco companies' lobby will do anything to prevent it. So will do nicotine-addicted to get another cigarette.
Re:Cracking at its best (Score:5, Informative)
more likely temperature. When taking a urine sample for example, one of the things the tester does immediately is check the temperature of the sample. This helps prevent people from bringing in a medicine bottle etc with a 'clean' sample to drop in the cup. if it measures much below 95 deg, they will know you brought it in.
Reminds me of something I read awhile back, guy tried this stunt and didn't get caught until later. "Mr Doe you'll be happy to know you passed your drug test. The doctors also felt they should inform you that you are approximately two months pregnant." oops...
So expect thermal (I.R.) sensors. Most digital cameras (CCDs) are highly IR sensitive anyway if you remove their IR filter, so this has to be a really easy mod for them to make. Won't be terribly easy to fool. A bit like those thermometers used to measure high temperatures of materials. They usually have a red laser light dot shine on the target, but that's purely for aiming. It shows where the IR sensor in the test unit is focused on. They can do this same thing with the face presented to measure the surface temp of the image. (without needing the red laser dot since the target is being presented in a known location)
Re:Complex systems, simple workaround (Score:5, Informative)
no, the truth of the matter is, they're just panties scented with the popular perfumes that are in vogue with highschool girls, with a statement that they're used' but it's rteally just marketing, it's much cheaper to buy perfume, spray it in a pair of cheap panties and package it in a machine as 'used' panties. actually using used panties would be gross, it's all about the 'image' people think they're really used by high school girls, and the perfume makes the buyer shell out the equivalent $80 got a $4 item, they think because it's perfumed that it's been warn, especially since the machine has big signs saying so!
most likely the item was dreamed up by some yakuza thug, of how to turn $4 into $80. I bet it's quite profitable.
Re:Age-controlled vending machines have a place (Score:5, Informative)
The article is pretty skewed. The real story is that Taspo [wikipedia.org] is starting July 1st. Taspo is a card based system that doesn't use any age verification. It's being deployed nationwide. You have to apply for a Taspo card using some form of state-issued photo identification. Maybe there's a weak link in the application procedure, but only one card is issued per person and cards that have been lost or are being abused can be disabled remotely. The article says that there will be 4000 age verification machines (in a country of 130 million), but I've never seen one. Every day, I see dozens of machines that say Taspo will be required starting July 1st. All the smokers I know have Taspo cards.
Re:Cracking at its best (Score:3, Informative)
Wrong end of the IR spectrum. People just aren't hot enough for CCDs to detect the IR, you need something not far short of red hot for a normal CCD to see it. You really do need those expensive detectors and optics if you want to tell the difference between paper at 20 Celsius and a person's skin at 33 Celsius.
Not the whole story (Score:1, Informative)
First and foremost, those "facial recognition" vending machines are extremely rare. So rare, I haven't seen one yet. All the other machines are equipped with a "TASPO" RFID card reader. This card has your name and photo on it, and you need to mail in a copy of your drivers license to get one in the first place.
There used to be beer vending machines that used drivers licenses to verify age, but a photocopied license worked just as well, not to mention that in Tokyo and Osaka where it's common for someone not to have a drivers license (public transportation makes a lot more sense in these areas), only those that drove could buy beer from the machine. A slightly humorous combination if you ask me.
As far as the magazine shot fooling the vending machine, I have no doubts that the developers already knew it, and notified the company contracting the work. The vending machine company just said "all we need to do is have an excuse that we made an effort to verify age. If someone went to extra lengths to fool the machine, what can we do?" After all, those vending cigarettes for the most part don't give a damn who buys, but they do want to circumvent getting in trouble with the law. And so far the law says you can't sell cigarettes to someone that looks under age. (IDing is not mandatory in Japan.)
That said, getting rid of these vending machines isn't really gonna change anything. A highschooler can still walk into a 7-11 and buy a pack of cigarettes, provided he/she's not dressed in school uniform. "I swear I thought he looked over 20 (legal smoking age in Japan)!" is a good enough of an excuse for the seller.
This is similar to back about 10 years ago when a bunch of highschoolers in uniform went out to a bar to drink, and one died of acute alcohol poisoning. The onus was put on the establishment's owner for knowingly serving a group of underaged kids. So what happened? Every single bar I ever went to now had a sign up front that said "we do not permit the entrance of underaged persons in school uniform." What does it mean? It means exactly what it says. Change out of your uniform, pull on some jeans and come back.
Mind you, unlike the U.S., underage drinking and smoking has been culturally accepted for a long time here. Smoking has finally started to get a bit of a stigma attached to it, but drinking is still fine. Teachers still occasionally go out for a drink with their students, although they WILL get in trouble if anything happens and word gets out that they were on the scene. (No, not every teacher does this, but there's an abundance nonetheless. Personally, I like the idea of the teacher being there. Most kids won't go wild if their teacher is drinking with them.)
Re:Age-controlled vending machines have a place (Score:3, Informative)
I see a similar trend in just about all of the replies to this post, so I'm just picking this one to reply to.
1) Think of the children. Sure, a parent has the responsibility to provide a safe environment for their children. Let's solve this in ways that don't make generalizations and obstruct freedoms. Let's give all kids free health care. No parent wants their children to be sick, and if it's completely free for them to get help, they will give it to them (or else they have other responsibility issues). If the doctors can show that the kids lungs are being tainted by second hand smoke and it poses a health risk to them, then work with the problem from there. Don't arbitrarily say "hey, these people can't smoke because they have kids" or any other generalizations.
2) Think of all of the other people and the environment. Dude, stop driving your car. Right now. Just don't. Walk your lazy ass to work or the store or something like that because you will be polluting the air with more toxins from your car than a dude smoking 2 packs a day. (Citation: http://www.thetimes-tribune.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=17697145&BRD=2185&PAG=461&dept_id=416046&rfi=6 [thetimes-tribune.com])
3) I'm wrong in the decision to risk and damage my body (even though you don't want to "mother me"). This was the entire point of my statement prior about being able to choose the risks and harms of my life for my own pleasure. I thank you for working in a hospital; honestly, helping out people when they are having some of the crappiest times of their lives is very honorable and it's not something everyone can stomach or do. I am not in denial about the risks of doing it. Any adult who has received all of the health curriculum provided by public schools is fully aware of all of these problems. I merely wish to protect my right to do it anyway and not have my decision making ability stripped from me because someone else does not agree with my decisions.