State wipes smiles off driver's license

Facial recognition software best with straight-faced photos

INDIANAPOLIS -- Hoosiers won't be saying "cheese" when they get their driver's license photos from now on.

The Bureau of Motor Vehicles has imposed new restrictions on anything -- from smiling to wearing glasses and scarves and hats -- that would hamper facial recognition software from distinguishing one driver's looks from another's.

"The technology looks at the permanent physical features of the face," BMV spokesman Dennis Rosebrough said. "Because people smile differently, it can in effect distort the photograph. A straight-faced photograph enhances the effectiveness of the technology."

About 20 other states -- including Kentucky -- use facial recognition technology to detect fraud in driver's licenses. But not all states are as restrictive as Indiana.

Kentucky law prohibits drivers from wearing sunglasses or any clothing that obstructs the face but says nothing about smiles or prescription glasses. It leaves the final say on photos to circuit court clerks, who issue the licenses.

http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20081209/NEWS02/812090395

I thought wearing prescription lenses was a quick and easy way for cops to realize there is a restriction on the license. Hmmm. Hope this doesn't take hold in Arkansas. Without my glasses, I can't see anything. The cops will see unfocused eyes that might look sightly glazed over!

I couldn't wear my usual full suit of armor.

... waiting in line at the DMV would be when you have to remove all that stuff.

I guess it makes sense.

If I can't wear my glass eyeball, you can't wear your burqa...





:P

Around here members of the VFW perform the ceremony.

Observant Jewish men are prohibited from baring their heads in public. Turbans, which can take hours to wrap properly, are a mandatory requirement for Sikh males. Most observant Muslim women keep their head covered with a scarf.

I have no doubt that the prohibition against hats and scarfs will be struck down.

Is not a right and if you can't take your hat or turban off then I guess you don't get a license. This feels like Big Brother horning in but there is no right to have a license. This has nothing to do with the Constitution.

The state must make reasonable accomodation to a person's religious beliefs. If those religious beliefs require the wearing of a headcovering, the state cannot require otherwise even if it is just to take a picture for a drivers license.

I will see if I can dig up the precedents.

not being allowed to smile.

I mean, who's actually going to be smiling if they're pulled over by a cop?


might as well be looking the same way in person as on the license photo...

I was so happy to be back home I was glowing, it really is a great pic, I usually am not very photogenic.

After all, photo ID is so damned important here you can't vote without it, regardless of the nonexistence of voter fraud.

All this article does is make me want to grow a beard before my next driver's license photo - and shave immediately afterward.

I guess if someone looks that different when they smile, they can make sure to smile to throw off the cops, if they're up to something.