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• Boy, 10, buys cigarettes after vending machine camera identifies him as adult  

A 10-year-old boy in Kyoto was able to purchase cigarettes from a vending machine equipped with face identification technology, it has been found.

Kyoto Prefectural Police conducted an experiment with the cooperation of the boy, who had bought cigarettes from a vending machine this February. Neither the Ministry of Finance, which had approved the use of such machines in lieu of those that read Taspo I.C. cards stored with personal identification information, nor the manufacturer of face identification vending machines have heard of other instances in which elementary school children have been misidentified as adults.

According to police, the boy confessed that he had purchased cigarettes from a vending machine when he was questioned by his father . . .

The boy stood on the frame of his bicycle to move closer to the camera installed in the machine, pressed the "confirm" button, and was identified as an adult.

Face identification vending machines determine a person's approximate age from the size of their eyes and mouth and their bone structure.

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