DMV's happy-face ban

[Jetfire]

Big brother wants to be absolutely sure your pictures match.

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.

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

[AbstractVagabond]

They say ban as if people have been happy to be at the DMV.

A real ban is denying us the freedom to give the DMV camera the middle finger.

[Jetfire]

well you can't look angry either. Remember its required that you have "Neutral facial expressions".

[AbstractVagabond]

What about a neutered facial expression? Same thing?

[davann]

Facial recognition software is a big load of bull shit. Optical Character Recognition software has made strides in the past decade but even it is not all that reliable. If software has issues reading computer generated text what are the chances Facial Recognition software is any where close to being accurate?

If the big casinos are not implementing this type of software to spot known card counters, cheats and criminals then it is a safe bet it does not work. Of course it is good enough for government. What a bunch of idiots.