this post was submitted on 18 Sep 2025
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Oh god don’t tell them about ATMs.
They do have a screen and Internet connectivity, but I don't think that ATMs are actually a great route (unless they force people to stop and wait to get their money, which I don't think will fly and will cut into capacity). There isn't much eyeball time on them. The reason a car or a refrigerator works is because you're likely to be around it a lot.
I will say that the rise of gas pumps at gas stations that play back advertisements is pretty obnoxious, though.
I was recently at a gas station that scanned my license plate and then started showing me ads telling me to upgrade to a newer model of my car, while showing me ads for those ewer models from a used car website. It felt incredibly invasive and I haven't been back to that gas station.
I'm still grouchy about a sandwich place that I liked that recently changed ownership putting in kiosks that apparently do facial recognition, as once I walked up, they suggested items that I'd purchased last time. That started me looking, and I've been noticing that a lot of the ordering kiosks that places have been installing around where I am have cameras (though none have been actively making suggestions). I can only imagine that that gets hooked into the tracking and advertising system at some point too, though.
Between increasing use of facial recognition and ALPRs, it's going to be increasingly difficult to avoid targeted ads. I don't have a fix for that. I mean, it's illegal to block use of ALPRs. A lot of places also have anti-masking laws, though I suspect that in practice, they aren't enforced much, and someone could theoretically put something on their face. I don't especially want to run around wearing stuff on my face, though.
Those morph suits from A Scanner Darkly are looking less and less unhinged lately
Do you really feel like inconveniencing us is unlikely?
A few years ago before I moved away, PNC bank had a few branches with new ATMs that made me tap through ads for loans and special checking accounts.
Please view this series of ads to retrieve your funds. Alternatively, you can retrieve your funds now for a $4.95 fee.
*this fee fluctuates based on several factors including but not limited to: the time of day, the number of detected people in line behind you, your estimated pulse, if you have overdrawn your account in the past [DECADE], if you are a cheap motherfucker on our lowest-fee plan, if the system detects that you are a pushover little bitch, if your credit score is less than 800, the amount of advertisements we detect you block from our servers, and more. Resistance is futile.
You have to approach almost parallel to the machine, not to scare them. As soon as you're close enough, be ready to jump in front of it and skip the ad. This way you can successfully hunt down a tedious ad.
But there are fewer people needing to use ATMs with all the card/tap/digital money transfer. The only time anyone is using an ATM is because they have to. And a high proportion of those people who have to use ATMs are going to be poor.
“Make ‘em wait through an ad, what are they gonna do?”