New Company Hopes to Build Age-Verification Tech into Vape Cartridges (wired.com) 103
Their goal is to use biometric data and blockchain to build age-verification measures directly into disposable vape cartridges.
Wired reports on a partnership between vape/cartridge manufacturer Ispire Technology and regulatory consulting company Chemular (which specializes in the nicotine market) — which they've named "Ike Tech": [Using blockchain-based security, the e-cig cartridge] would use a camera to scan some form of ID and then also take a video of the user's face. Once it verifies your identity and determines you're old enough to vape, it translates that information into anonymized tokens. That info goes to an identity service like ID.me or Clear. If approved, it bounces back to the app, which then uses a Bluetooth signal to give the vape the OK to turn on.
"Everything is tokenized," [says Ispire CEO Michael Wang]. "As a result of this process, we don't communicate consumer personal private information." He says the process takes about a minute and a half... After that onetime check, the Bluetooth connection on the phone will recognize when the vape cartridge is nearby and keep it unlocked. Move the vape too far away from the phone, and it shuts off again. Based on testing, the companies behind Ike Tech claim this process has a 100 percent success rate in age verification, more or less calling the tech infallible. "The FDA told us it's the holy grail technology they were looking for," Wang says. "That's word-for-word what they said when we met with them...."
Wang says the goal is to implement additional features in the verification process, like geo-fencing, which would force the vape to shut off while near a school or on an airplane. In the future, the plan is to license this biometric verification tech to other e-cig companies. The tech may also grow to include fingerprint readers and expand to other product categories; Wang suggests guns, which have a long history of age-verification features not quite working.
Wired reports on a partnership between vape/cartridge manufacturer Ispire Technology and regulatory consulting company Chemular (which specializes in the nicotine market) — which they've named "Ike Tech": [Using blockchain-based security, the e-cig cartridge] would use a camera to scan some form of ID and then also take a video of the user's face. Once it verifies your identity and determines you're old enough to vape, it translates that information into anonymized tokens. That info goes to an identity service like ID.me or Clear. If approved, it bounces back to the app, which then uses a Bluetooth signal to give the vape the OK to turn on.
"Everything is tokenized," [says Ispire CEO Michael Wang]. "As a result of this process, we don't communicate consumer personal private information." He says the process takes about a minute and a half... After that onetime check, the Bluetooth connection on the phone will recognize when the vape cartridge is nearby and keep it unlocked. Move the vape too far away from the phone, and it shuts off again. Based on testing, the companies behind Ike Tech claim this process has a 100 percent success rate in age verification, more or less calling the tech infallible. "The FDA told us it's the holy grail technology they were looking for," Wang says. "That's word-for-word what they said when we met with them...."
Wang says the goal is to implement additional features in the verification process, like geo-fencing, which would force the vape to shut off while near a school or on an airplane. In the future, the plan is to license this biometric verification tech to other e-cig companies. The tech may also grow to include fingerprint readers and expand to other product categories; Wang suggests guns, which have a long history of age-verification features not quite working.
Blockchain??? (Score:3)
Are they running their marketing department out of a retirement home or something? This buzzword is... Aged.
Re:Blockchain??? (Score:5, Informative)
They should add AI and quantum computing into the mix just for maximum buzzword coverage.
Re:Blockchain??? (Score:5, Funny)
I'm gonna just go back to smoking real cigarettes....
It was MUCH more fun anyway...you got to carry a lighter all the time, play with fire....and flicking ashes at the bar while talking to a girl just felt....right.
Hell, maybe go back a bit further and buy loose tobacco and roll my own.
Pure analog pleasure.....geez I miss it.....
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Fuck it....
I'm gonna just go back to smoking real cigarettes....
It was MUCH more fun anyway...you got to carry a lighter all the time, play with fire....and flicking ashes at the bar while talking to a girl just felt....right.
Hell, maybe go back a bit further and buy loose tobacco and roll my own.
Pure analog pleasure.....geez I miss it.....
Well then, you’ll probably also miss out on the underwear running on a blockchain with a camera to verify the person is the right age and with the right gonads to be wearing it. Once the video is uploaded, it disables the high voltage circuits that will put a stop to indecency.
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....and flicking ashes at the bar while talking to a girl just felt....right.
Most modern ladies I know aren't too keen on the smell that comes from smoking cigarettes so unless you're hitting on a lady who's also a smoker you likely won't have much luck chatting up the ladies while smoking nowadays.
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Fuck it....
I'm gonna just go back to smoking real cigarettes....
It was MUCH more fun anyway...you got to carry a lighter all the time, play with fire....and flicking ashes at the bar while talking to a girl just felt....right.
Hell, maybe go back a bit further and buy loose tobacco and roll my own.
Pure analog pleasure.....geez I miss it.....
There ain't nothin' slicker'n a man leaned up against a doorjamb, carefully rolling a cigarette, hat pulled down low, sun setting off to the side of the building, then he raises his gaze right as a woman walks by and, holding the mostly wrapped cig between two fingers, tips the brim of his hat as he says, "Ma'am," all smooth and silky.
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It's actually not a bad idea. Centralized databases are prone to security breaches. Having your credentials in an encrypted ipfs store somewhere could be more secure if it's only accessible through a token on a blockchain.
That being said, there's no way anyone knows what you've actually put on the ipfs store if the entire contents aren't being exposed during the age check. You could put any old ID you wanted in there.
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Sure why not? (Score:2)
Let's get a chat client in it too, just make the talking cigar that refuses to work from Sam Slade : RoboHunter for real.
April 1st (Score:2)
Glad I don't smoke (Score:5, Insightful)
I already hate that I need a smartphone app to charge my EV at most DCFC stations (the one saving grace is that I don't need to fast charge all that often), but having to use an app every time you want to get your nicotine fix would be a real pain in the ass. Something tells me if this actually caught on, vapers would just go back to smoking the old fashioned combustion form of cancer sticks.
Re: Glad I don't smoke (Score:5, Informative)
The world has become so horrible in the last 10-15 years.
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Really just the last 6.
2020 was when the managed decline really began.
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Has it been "Fundamentally Changed" enough yet?
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I already hate that I need a smartphone app to charge my EV at most DCFC stations
You what? Is this a thing in the states? It's actually been illegal in Europe to build a fast charger that doesn't except credit / debit cards for 2 years now, and by the end of this year 100% of chargers with a capacity higher than 50kW need to accept credit / debit card.
Additionally low power chargers need to offer an option to pay without an app or subscription, but are allowed to direct you to a payment website (no need to add a hardware credit card reader).
But I for one am in favour of making it as dif
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but Social Media is fine
Says who? Not me... are you reading the right thread? Maybe we should ban Slashdotting under the influence of alcohol or whatever hallucinogen made you come up with that post as well, save you from yourself.
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You what? Is this a thing in the states? It's actually been illegal in Europe to build a fast charger that doesn't except credit / debit cards for 2 years now...
That's funny. I remember when Americans travelled to Europe, we were strongly advised to bring cash because plastic was not nearly as widely accepted. Of course, this was back in the olden days when "cash" meant Marks, Francs, and Lyra.
Reminiscing aside, I don't see a need for a mandate. If enough people complain, I'm sure charging makers would include credit card readers. They're cheap enough and I'm actually kind of surprised the non-Tesla networks don't already. I think the thinking is that for a number
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If enough people complain, I'm sure charging makers would include credit card readers.
I don't see why. You are a captive consumer and the demand is inelastic. If you need to charge now, and the nearest DC fast charger is 30 miles away, you are going to install the app. The company doesn't need to be responsive to your complaints.
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...and the nearest DC fast charger is 30 miles away...
I don't have an EV so I'm quite disconnected from the charger market.
Is that typical? That a charger I might want to actually use would be that far away, and there are no alternatives?
This is where free markets shine. As long as there's competition, you the customer are not captive. The higher the barriers to entry, the less incumbent vendors have to care about your wishes.
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It depends on location in the world, but even in places where chargers are frequent there's a question of how often / early you want to charge. My car for example will give a notification to stop at a charger when the battery is below 10%. At that point you're looking at only 50km remaining charge (not too different from the point where the low fuel light used to come on my previous car). Now realistically going down a highway that gives me the option of 1 or 2 chargers only. If I am willing to move off the
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The issue is the charging industry does not make a lot of money. It's a significant cost outlay for very little return and a small market share. Petrol stations actually also make very little money, they rely a lot on incredible volumes and sales of overpriced convenience items to make a profit. Charging companies don't have that luxury, in fact most of the time you will plug in your car and then go spend money at a petrol station or starbucks or something while you wait for it to charge.
I don't understand. Don't charging stations have more opportunity to sell snacks (since even at a fast charger, it takes longer than fill a gas car)? Or do you think charging takes so long, the drivers have enough time to wander down the street to the local McBurgers or strip mall?
I'm also not at all sure how much of an issue this really is. Most of the people I know of who own EVs charge at home or at work. The impression I get from them is charging at a remote station is fairly rare and so convenience is
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The impression I get from them is charging at a remote station is fairly rare and so convenience is just not that big a deal.
Right, which is why charging networks can get away with bullshit like requiring an app to charge. Frequent flyers only get annoyed once and then just use the app. The rare road tripper has no choice. If charging stations were more ubiquitous, the we could give them the finger and use one that took CCs, but they aren't, so we can't. Also, the largest player in the US, Tesla, has what was up to recently a proprietary network that only worked with Tesla cars, so you HAVE to use an app at most of their loca
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That's funny. I remember when Americans travelled to Europe, we were strongly advised to bring cash because plastic was not nearly as widely accepted.
That's a misnomer, you still should bring cash. It's not that plastic isn't widely accepted. For a long time it's actually been more widely used in Western Europe than it has been in the USA. It is *CREDIT CARDS* that are not widely accepted (and still not in much of Europe). Most of Europe runs on debit transactions. Yes it can be confusing to see two overlapping circles and confuse the Mastercard logo (red and yellow) with the Maestro symbol (red and blue) or the Cirrus symbol (light blue and blue).
Come h
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What are you doing to do, drive to a different supercharger and hope for the best?
Well, yes. Once people start doing that and finding, all things considered, they like the experience better, I guarantee the vendors will take notice.
Of course, it's rare that all things are equal. Customers will have to consider in distance, charge speed, charger reliability, charger compatibility, and many more things along with convenience of payment methods. It may well be that a good charger close by is preferable to a great charger that's far away.
It's kind of like every other market in existence. Cus
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Well, yes. Once people start doing that and finding, all things considered, they like the experience better, I guarantee the vendors will take notice.
The problem is still captivity. It's not a consumer choice. Literally no consumer has ever said "I would like to use an app to pay at just this station", yet the vendors forced this on people anyway. Why? Because it benefits *them* and because consumers have no alternative. The precise mechanism that made this a problem in the first place it the mechanism that prevents it from being solved through consumers. This was always about corporate control.
Customers can't vote with wallets. That's a fundmental probl
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You're missed the biggest benefit: You can quickly identify those people who make poor life decisions.
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LMAO...I wish I had mod points...you deserve it.
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Hate me? Motherfucker if I caught my children smoking they'd be out on the street, disowned, and I'd be in the bedroom making a replacement for their sorry asses. Parenting isn't about letting young idiots (which they universally are) who are incapable of making good choices do whatever they want. That's "bad parenting". It's the reason we don't treat kids as adults in the first place (and one of the reasons selling this stuff to them is already illegal).
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That is not any more anonymous. Using the app or using a card still logs who did what, when, where, and how often. It is just another database.
This is not about getting a nicotine fix or powering a vehicle. It is about tracking and control.
Re: Glad I don't smoke (Score:2)
They're making the perfect the enemy of the good. People seem to forget (or never have learned) that nicotine isn't the truly harmful part of smoking, it's the actual smoke. Anything you do to encourage people to smoke instead of vape is tragically harmful.
By making the vapor look so much like actual smoke, vape companies aren't helping the situation.
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First they came for the vape-bros....
This tech (if it works) will be pushed to other uses. This will be how you authenticate your age to browse the internet. This will be how you activate your car. Your home. Your beer. Your right to vote.
This is age verification, authentication, and identification all in one slick package. Give it time.
You know what isn't age locked? (Score:4, Insightful)
There is a nicotine source that isn't at all age locked. I guess the teens will move on to these "cigarettes" you hear about from time to time.
They even come in cool Menthol.
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This ! And it is also a gift to black market sellers because it'll be much cheaper to sell capes without all this tech and computing capabilities.
Re: You know what isn't age locked? (Score:2)
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As a white guy who smokes menthols and is pissed off because white liberals keep making them more expensive, I call BS on those racist a-holes.
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Cue exploit in... (Score:2)
"The FDA told us it's the holy grail technology they were looking for," Wang says. "That's word-for-word what they said when we met with them...."
First against the wall (Score:3)
Anyone who participates in any of this aggressive ID verification tech needs to be first up against the wall before the revolution comes, or there won't ever be one again.
Re:First against the wall (Score:4, Insightful)
Railing against age verification while an orange man is sending the military into your cities, destroying your way of life and antagonizing the whole world against you is priceless.
Age verification is not what is being discussed, and only an incredibly simple person who is completely unable to imagine ramifications of what is obviously ubiquitous identity verification would make such a drastic mistake. This kind of technology is an obvious component of "sending the military into [our] cities" and "destroying [our] way of life" and is in fact exactly what the followers of the orange piggy are promoting. Did you not notice what's going on with e.g. flock? Fucking wake up and learn to pay attention, fascism enabler.
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I stand corrected. All this stuff that's happening now is because *in the future* there will be identity verification! It's re-tro-ac-tive, you see! Nothing happens today if we fix the future first! I get it now.
And that's why it's more important to do nothing today. Best to shout on a geeky forum about the dangers of one highly specific annoyance, so that *other* people can go fight against the man, secure in the knowledge that *someone* has done the important work of writing a comment on the Internet
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I stand corrected. All this stuff that's happening now is because *in the future* there will be identity verification!
It's not in the future, and if you could both read and understand the fine summary, you would understand that. Feel free to try to read and understand it again, it's right there.
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You're wrong on this one. Clearly unable to see the forest behind the twig.
You can't even see that the summary says the so-called age verification is being done with ID verification and you want to tell me I'm missing something? Pure clown shit that EVERYONE BUT YOU figured out.
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Do you wear your mask while driving, too??
Do you think about me when you're jerking off, too? I know you do.
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Found the guy who can't connect the dots.
What do you think they're going to use this technology for? It's not for finding lost dogs, I can tell you that much.
Think hard, bumpkin: what could an oppressive government do with the capability to track everyone everywhere?
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Two things can be bad at once. And this article is about age verification. Calm down and don't attack your allies.
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> this article is about age verification.
Through individual biometric identification.
Let's kill every human, then no one underage can smoke. There's a sentence "about underage smoking" for you.
Blockchain can do anything... (Score:2)
Totally not a gimmick. Totally not incredibly easy to bypass. Totally not a bunch more e-Waste in the making. /s
But someone expects to earn good money with it, so...
Sounds effective (Score:2)
For attracting venture capital, about 10 years ago.
But does it run Linux? (Score:2)
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Think of the bragging rights.
Dystopian craziness (Score:4, Insightful)
Let's extend this dystopian 'security' feature to everything like phones and TVs and cars and can openers and lighters and keyboards and toilets. Can't be too safe now, can we?
Updates (Score:3)
Q. How will the software be kept up to date?
A. We're looking for funding for something we call Nicotine Patches.
Great work (Score:2)
That's a cool idea. Really dystopian. I love it.
Stop That (Score:5, Insightful)
You people have gone insane.
Stop trying to control every atom of existence and every move people make.
You're sick in the head, not visionaries, not thought leaders.
Go plant a garden and get back in touch with the real world.
No, NOT FARMVILLE!
I'm sure a scientist is working on a... (Score:2)
Terrible idea (Score:2)
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Maybe we could start by limiting the sale of these things based on age somehow... If only there we some technology at the location of sale that could identify purchasers of products...
It takes a village to raise a child (Score:2)
Nevermind, we'll let the machines do it.
I don't vape anymore (Score:3)
But I keep all my vaping equipment - mod, drippers and all manners of accessories - from the early teens when vaping was free, unregulated and not yet killed by Big Pharma. Hell, I still have 3 gallons of 100mg nic base in blue bottles with nitrogen in storage in the freezer from that time.
I was a big vaping enthusiast for years. It's what kept me from smoking again. I've quit smoking and vaping for years, but just in case I decide to pick up vaping again - like if I'm diagnosed with cancer again, and it's terminal this time - I keep all that good stuff from a better past.
April 1st (Score:1)
April 1 is coming...
Welcone to the new permissions-based society (Score:3)
First the will build the infrastructure to control minors from gaining access to certain products, services, information, and entertainment.
Then with the infrastructure in place, they will extend it to certain demographic groups causing the regime some trouble.
Finally, it will be extended to all so they can control what you see, hear, and do.
Vape: how can we make smoking worse? (Score:2)
Is anyone else tired of this disposable society yet? Now instead of a cigarette butt we find used vape cartridges, used lithium ion cells, and now it includes a larger circuit board to support blue tooth! On top of that the battery could start a fire even when it is put in the trash and not on the ground.
Vapes need the equivalent to a core charge when buy
City Miles (TM) Brand Fine Tobacco Cigarettes (Score:4, Funny)
Simple (Score:2)
If the cartridge detects that the user has more than three teeth, it refuses to work.
Bingo! (Score:2)
So much bullshit tech in the same product ...
For starters: Why does this need an append only blockchain? Once the vape is unlocked, there is no need to keep a record of the unlocking. It also seems like the thing needs wifi. And a camera. All of this while other vapes come without any of these features. Do they hope regulators will make other vapes illegal?
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Two words... data mining. Track how often your customers vape, for how long, etc. Blockchain because buzzword bingo.
The business model is basically (Score:2)
There was a time when you could append those two words to literally anything, and private equity investors would shovel cash at you and not ask any questions while you lived on a caribbean island with 5 of your best poly friends.
Those times are gone. The dumb money has already been harvested. Any investors with cash to burn are now asking questions that include the words like "convincing business proposition" and "ROI".
I'm sure this company values itself at a hundre
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Am I dating myself?
Super retarded (Score:1)
Here's a whack idea (Score:2)
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The reality is that vapes are in the same situation as tobacco in the 70s and 80s deliberately using marketing of people looking cool and sexy to get people hooked on this shit. The way to stop people getting hooked is to remove all prominence of the product and make it hard and extreme risk for a business to sell to kids. And to make the product le
Too late. (Score:1)
Kids already stopped vaping. They switched to Zyn. But that probably won't stop this company from sucking in some gullible investors who still think that blockchain is the future.
Does it work... (Score:2)
Oh, that'll work! (Score:2)
Yeah, sure. How many of the 510 battery sticks will have that tech built-in? None.
This person is looking for investors sink money into something that lives in the "Pre-Failed New Project's" category.
Geo-fencing? (Score:2)
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Wouldn't building GPS into vapes make them much more expensive, especially for something that doesn't work inside buildings? That being said, Google does a fairly good job of triangulating your position from nearby WiFi access points, but WiFi would be even more expensive than GPS.
TFS says the vape would use Bluetooth to connect with the phone/app. The vape won't work w/o the app, so they'd build any extra functionality into the app, like ads, tracking and geo-fencing. See my other post Why stop there? [slashdot.org]
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Won't work (Score:1)
Vaping makes you look older.
Why stop there? (Score:2)
Move the vape too far away from the phone, and it shuts off again.
If the vape is going to be app-locked, then the app can be (a) tracked and (b) geo-fenced. Establishments/locations can post if they allow vaping and the (nanny) app can track where you are and disable the vape if it's prohibited. Marketing bonus: The app will probably be running a lot, so the data it could collect could be HUGE. /s
Because (Score:1)
The analog hole (Score:2)
A panopticon for your safety (Score:2)
The fact this security measure can be bypassed, contrary to the wowsers who whinge it can be by-passed, isn't the problem: It's the fact that demanding every device watch the user (or his/her identity documents) is a dem