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.
FIND MORE STORIES IN: Carnegie Mellon University

Dull expressions "make the comparison process more accurate," says Karen Chappell, deputy commissioner of the Virginia DMV, whose no-smile policy took effect in March.

Elaine Mullen of Great Falls, Va., bristled at the policy while renewing her license until she heard the reasoning. "It's probably safer from a national-security point of view," she says.

Arkansas, Indiana and Nevada allow slight smiles. "You just can't grin really large," Arkansas driver services chief Tonie Shields says.

A total of 31 states do computerized matching of driver's license photos and three others are considering it, says the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators. Most say their software matches faces regardless of expressions. "People can smile here in Pennsylvania," state Transportation Department spokesman Craig Yetter says.

In Illinois, photo matching has stopped 6,000 people from getting fraudulent licenses since the technology was launched in 1999, says Beth Langen, the state head of Drivers Services.


http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2009-05-25-licenses_N.htm?se=yahoorefer

what i dont get is why anyone would smile after having to wait at the DMV.


"the wisdom of the wise will perish, the intelligence of the intelligent will vanish."

WOW!!!! What a state. Or, states
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If it's such fucking "high tech" programs can detect faces, why the fuck can't they detect smiles?

the other option is for police to start using full bod metrics, where they can identify you by a myriad of different means, including your walking gait. i'm not saying we should all just bend over and take it like mindless little sheep, but i also don't think we want to scoff at this type of thing an taunt the powers that be into using even more invasive techniques.

They need a good baseline for comparison. There are certain places on the face that stay pretty much the same throughout a lifetime... They are measuring facial features...
If you smile in one picture, then don't smile in your next picture, the measurements may be off and cause a complication (even if you did smile both times they may be different).
They say they are trying to protect our identities, and trying to cut-down on counterfeiting... but what about the dork with the big hair and thick glasses? If that's what the person looks like, then their ID won't really look like them.??

HereAndThere Wrote:
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> If it's such fucking "high tech" programs can
> detect faces, why the fuck can't they detect
> smiles?

HereAndThere Wrote:
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> If it's such fucking "high tech" programs can
> detect faces, why the fuck can't they detect
> smiles?

they can but it's less accurate and accuracy is the name of the game.

---

NuMex Wrote:
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> but what about the dork with the big hair and thick
> glasses?

you can have all the "big hair" you want, so long as it's not obscuring your face. glasses are to be removed so that the flash doesnt cause a reflection on your id.


"the wisdom of the wise will perish, the intelligence of the intelligent will vanish."

And because some glasses obstruct the vision of eyebrows and other facial features... but what about the issue of having an ID that looks nothing like you in day to day life?
Gravis Wrote:
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> you can have all the "big hair" you want, so long
> as it's not obscuring your face. glasses are to
> be removed so that the flash doesnt cause a
> reflection on your id.

HereAndThere Wrote:
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> If it's such fucking "high tech" programs can
> detect faces, why the fuck can't they detect
> smiles?


Fuck! Thwarted by Al Qaeda again!!!

Does that mean we can have a bad hair day instead ... you think they would recongize anyone then.

NuMex Wrote:
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> And because some glasses obstruct the vision of
> eyebrows and other facial features... but what
> about the issue of having an ID that looks nothing
> like you in day to day life?

it's the face itself that matters, not your hair/beard/glasses/whatever.



WashingToneLocian(2) Wrote:
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> HereAndThere Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > If it's such fucking "high tech" programs can
> > detect faces, why the fuck can't they detect
> > smiles?
>
>
> Fuck! Thwarted by Al Qaeda again!!!

i almost did a spit take when i read that.


"the wisdom of the wise will perish, the intelligence of the intelligent will vanish."



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/27/2009 09:00PM by Gravis.

I'm waiting for someone to walk in to the DMV now with the joker lip paint on, then they plaster a huge grin for the photo, and when the employee complains, they simply say: "Why so seeerious?"

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"And if any women or children get their legs torn off, or faces caved in, well, it's tough shit for them." -2LT. Bert Stiles, 505th, 339th (On Berlin Bombardier Mission, 1944).

What about disfigured people? I'd probably let them smile, if they wanted to.

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13 4826 0948 82695 25847. Yes.

,



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/28/2012 11:57PM by Alias.

]



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/28/2009 01:31AM by Furfur.

[



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/29/2009 02:04AM by Alias.

Alias wrote:

>What if the smile is part of their disfigurement?
>Please display a neutral expression. Please close your lopsided mouth.
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\]



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/29/2012 01:04PM by Alias.

so does this mean I can't use my younger bro's driver license anymore when stopped by the cops?

Worried Wrote:
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> so does this mean I can't use my younger bro's
> driver license anymore when stopped by the cops?

Don't worry about it. You'll be covered by a "grandfather clause."

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13 4826 0948 82695 25847. Yes.