From the New York Times: China’s High-Tech Tool to Fight Toilet Paper Bandits.
BEIJING — The toilet paper thieves of the Temple of Heaven Park were an elusive bunch.
They looked like most park visitors, practicing tai chi, dancing in the courtyards and stopping to take in the scent of ancient cypress and juniper trees. But hidden in their oversize shopping bags and backpacks was a secret: sheet upon sheet of crumpled toilet paper, plucked surreptitiously from public restrooms.
Now the authorities in Beijing are fighting back, going so far as to install high-tech toilet paper dispensers equipped with facial recognition software in several restrooms. [continue]
I’m not sure that facial recognition software would be the most useful approach. Perhaps …. no, no I’d better stop. 🙂
I saw a write up about this in a brief article in the Guardian Weekly recently. I agree with Peter that there is something rather unsavoury about having cameras in public toilets. If nothing else, I suppose it is a novel use of technology to thwart would-be toilet paper thieves!