Diana Kim, of Fairfax, Va., is sure not to smile as she gets her driver's license photo taken. Virginia uses face-recognition software that won't allow for smiles on IDs.
Hello Classmates,
While browsing the internet on my lunch break, I came across an interesting article that I wanted to share with you all. After posting my first shocking yet interesting article about "Airport scan reveals all", I was even more surprised when I came across another article which bans people from smiling on their driver's license in order to reduce license fraud, but is this policy worth-while? --- What are your thoughts on this new idea/technique?
Four states adopt 'no-smiles' policy for driver's licenses - By Thomas Frank, USA Today
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2009-05-25-licenses_N.htm?se=yahoorefer
Stopping driver's license fraud is no laughing matter: Four states are ordering people to wipe the grins off their faces in their license photos.
"Neutral facial expressions" are required at departments of motor vehicles (DMVs) in Arkansas, Indiana, Nevada and Virginia. That means you can't smile, or smile very much. Other states may follow.
LICENSE FRAUD: States take steps to cut down fake IDs
The serious poses are urged by DMVs that have installed high-tech software that compares a new license photo with others that have already been shot. When a new photo seems to match an existing one, the software sends alarms that someone may be trying to assume another driver's identity.
But there's a wrinkle in the technology: a person's grin. Face-recognition software can fail to match two photos of the same person if facial expressions differ in each photo, says Carnegie Mellon University robotics professor Takeo Kanade.
3 comments:
I hate this new policy because it also includes a "no-glasses" policy because glasses also affects the identification process. For people like me who always wear glasses, though, having a driver's license picture without them feels weird and doesn't look much like me. I suppose it's easy enough to take off my glasses if there was ever a question about my identity, but I have had people who card me look twice since I got my new glasses-less driver's license.
Is the DMV the only place that has the software to use this technology? If there aren't any others now, will there be? Is the government going to sell this technology to allow for facial recognition? I guess I'm okay with the DMV using this to prevent people from making "official" fake IDs, but I'm concerned about where this could go and who might be using it for what purposes in the future.
Took my daughter to get her learners permit today. She was of course proud as punch, but no grinning picture to go with it. Really not sure how I feel about the policy. In some ways it does the same thing as the picture has for years, but supposedly better. That may be ok but it is the potential for other uses (even though they are unknown at this time) that makes me feel a little uncomfortable with it.
The idea of facial recognition software is a good breakthrough for preventing fraud, but I agree with you all that I wonder who else is going to be monitoring me.
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