A report from the office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner (IPC) of Ontario has found that the vending machines that were formerly installed on the University of Waterloo’s campus breached privacy rights. The machines, which were removed from campus in February 2024, were found to have recorded a video image of the buyer in order to estimate their gender and age range. IPC determined that though UWaterloo was not aware of the facial detection technology, it failed to carry out due diligence to identify potential privacy concerns. IPC recommended that UWaterloo should review its privacy policies and ensure that it identifies, assesses, and mitigates potential risks to personal information when entering agreements with third-party providers.
