N.J. bans driver's license smiles

upi ^ | Sept. 20, 2012

[JoeProBono]

TRENTON, N.J., - New Jersey officials said the ban on smiling for driver's licenses is due to facial recognition software designed to prevent fraud.

Mike Horan, spokesman for the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission, said people posing for driver's license pictures are asked to refrain from smiling or making other facial expressions so as not to confuse the facial recognition software, the Philadelphia Daily News reported Thursday.

The spokesman said the software, which was adopted in January, is designed to prevent anyone who already has a license from getting a second document under a different name.

"That could be someone trying to steal someone else's identity to get insurance benefits, or someone trying to get out of a DUI by getting a license under another name," Horan said. "This helps us weed out fraud."

Jan McKnight, a Pennsylvania Department of Transportation spokeswoman, said her state also uses the software, but smiling is not a problem.

"You can smile in Pennsylvania," she said.

[Arrowhead1952]

The State Trooper who took our pictures after we finished drivers’ ed in high school instructed us not to smile. When one of the gals insisted on smiling, he said something to the effect of “I don’t think you will be smiling when you get pulled over by a police officer”.

[JoeProBono]

[fr_freak]

You know what's fascinating about that chart is that, to me, that does not appear to be a measurement of trustworthiness - it appears to be a measurement of masculine vs. feminine features. The guy on the left merely looks meaner than the guy on the right, but that doesn't necessarily correlate to "less trustworthy". The feminized guy is less threatening, maybe, but a milquetoast will screw you over as fast as a mean guy, sometimes faster because he doesn't have the guts to withstand things like peer pressure and intimidation.

As far as trustworthiness goes, I have more trust in masculine men because they tend to be the types who actually live by their word, whereas the feminine-looking guys seem to be the ones who just go with the path of least resistance. Looking at the scale at the top, the ones I would pick out as being more trustworthy-looking would be the ones just to the left of neutral.

This sort of "science" is probably the result of years of anti-male propaganda which have attempted to equate masculinity with criminal behavior.

[CORedneck]

I wouldn’t live in that ****ing state ! Been there a few times and it is nice to leave NJ.

[Hodar]

Those are 2 distictively different faces. The skull shape is different, the indentation between the nose and the forehead are different, the shape of the jaw is different, the eyes are different in position, as well as shape. Facial recognitions would not identify these two different individuals as the same person - because they aren't he same person. You posted traits that people find "trustworthy".

[JoeProBono]

>You posted traits that people find “trustworthy”.

I posted a silly picture

[Buckeye McFrog]

Every photo looks like a mug shot

That's the plan. Will be a snap to convince the jury that you're guilty when declared an Enemy of the State.

[Ditter]

Half a mustache and black eyes but at least he is smiling. :D

[miss marmelstein]

As someone who just renewed my license this week, I agree with you.

What a bunch of bureaucratic, stupid, nasty people at the NJ DMV!