Everyone seems concerned about what it could be doing, not what it is doing.

I could sit next to a vending machine and make notes on the gender and sex of each patron for demographic purposes, nothing would be illegal.

Why? Well, that's easy, I want to stock my vending machine in order to make money. Instead of testing different layouts which would take a lot of time, I could predict how well certain stock would do based on preexisting market research.

This appears to be just that, but with a camera.

Now, you can argue "but it could be worse"! That's not a valid argument. It could always be worse for things you don't know about. If it holds up to be true, as stated, it's just what it is.

This seems like an over reaction by people who don't understand the technology or associated risks. Focus on the implementation not the tech. There is no indication that the vending machine is inappropriatly storing or transmitting personally identifiable information or that its making decisions based on biased data.