Posted on 09/21/2012 6:54:46 AM PDT by 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.
That’s just nuts. I smile most of the time. :)
We can’t smile in PA it has always been that way.
The person who making doing the “no smile” rules, apparently has a very small idea as to how fascial recognition works.
The ratio of the width of your eye, the distance between eyes to nose, along with angles, eye to chin, position of nose to chin, position of ears on the face, shape of the face, lines in the chin, cheeks - these are things that do not typically move and are not affected by hairstyle, makeup or wigs.
Further, some camera’s use infra-red lenses that can see-through your sunglasses, wigs and makeup (and many other articles of clothing - by the way).
Never fear, this rule is meaningless. Nobody ever smiles in a NJ DMV office. Trust me.
My passport picture looks like I’m half dead and angry enough to strangle an annoying mid-level bureaucrat who has nothing better to do that p@#( me off. So it is perfect for getting through customs in any country. :-)
Virginia started this a few years ago. Every photo looks like a mug shot. Very unattractive!
In Maryland, our licenses expire on our birthday and many people wait until then to renew. Happy Birthdays have been song to each other. LOL.
Is that an auto driver’s license? It also says, “Class D Boat”. Same license for both, maybe?
NJ DMV
D Boat’s the guys street name
NJ would be happy with my TX drivers license. Not only am I not smiling it looks like I am crying and I have 2 black eyes. The expired license was the best photo I have ever taken, this new one is the worst. I was waiting for the woman to tell me to get ready when she said “that’s it you can go now”!
“Organ Donor”? I feel sorry for the poor soul who ends up with that idiots brain.
Dang, Joe.
That’s EXACTLY the way I’ve always pictured you!
That's the DMV software. But of course the photos will be used in the facial recognition software which will soon be tracking our movements everywhere.
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