Posted on 05/28/2009 11:14:38 AM PDT by freespirited
Few places in Virginia are as draining to the soul and as numbing to the buttocks as the branch offices of the Department of Motor Vehicles. And yet, until recently, smiling was still permitted there.
No more. As part of the DMV's effort to develop super-secure driver's licenses and foolproof identification cards, the agency has issued a smile ban, directing customers to adopt a "neutral expression" in their portraits, thereby extinguishing whatever happiness comes with finally hearing one's number called.
The driver's license photo, it seems, is destined to look like a mug shot.
DMV officials say the smile ban is for a good cause. The agency would like to develop a facial recognition system that could compare customers' photographs over time to prevent fraud and identity theft. "The technology works best when the images are similar," said DMV spokeswoman Pam Goheen. "To prepare for the possibility of future security enhancements, we're asking customers to maintain a neutral expression." ...
When asked how DMV employees are able to determine when customers might be smiling too much, Goheen explained that the process is automated. Naturally, the new software is programmed to reject attempts at exuberance or human warmth. "It will send an error message if it detects a non-neutral expression," she said.
The ban is in effect at more than half of the agency's 74 offices statewide, Goheen said, including most Northern Virginia branches. It is expected to be in place at the remaining branches by the end of next month.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Great thinking here. Very clever. We, in Virginia, are so very lucky to have such stunningly brilliant state employees. Why, I feel safer already!
It’s easy to not smile. Just pretend you’re in a long TSA line at the airport and your flight will close out in 5 minutes.
I’d rather not have my face catalogued in a government database thankyouverymuch.
I believe it’s a requirement that you need to be brain dead in order to work for the government. Never have I encountered people so incapable of actual thought as I have working for local/state/federal government.
Unless there has been major staff turnover, these would be the same folks who handed out licenses to a lot of the 9/11 terrorists.
Why don’t they just put a chip in our head?
Dudes - unless you change the law, I don’t have to show up in person until my 65th birthday, by which time I won’t have much to smile about anyway. :-)
Wearing a hijab is totally ok though. :’)
Facial recognition systems are already out there, dipstick DMV robot.
(Here in AZ they ask you to smile. I told her that I was smiling.;-) )
I think Virginia ought to worry more about registrations, especially for beltway snipers with the times and date of the WTC’s being struck written in, in the lower right hand corner.
Ugh.
The security software is designed to read the faces of individuals attempting to get licenses. And point out when a person using a particular SSN is not the face associated with it. If you smile it affects the face’s measurements and by extension, the readings that the software makes.
It is a good idea. And the dolts crying about illegal Mexicans getting fake IDs are prolly the same nitwits crying about this. </dealing with idiots is tedious>
Yes, but smiles are un Islamic..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCm_5NrfwRA
or this
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZEPViAuE8dw&feature=related
Hint: it's well worth taking the time to check out the links, especially if you live in VA.
dare I ping you?
Probably due to your very unwise statement "And the dolts crying about illegal Mexicans getting fake IDs are prolly the same nitwits crying about this."
Guess you forgot FR is a conservative site for conservatives. Many of us, a clear majority of us, are very much opposed to "illegal Mexicans getting fake IDs".
Perhaps a less conservative site than FR would be more to your liking. By all means feel free to find one.
Perhaps it’s not the worst thing in the world.
Let’s face it, this is going on at the Department of Motor Vehicles. First, there is nothing that goes on there for the average person to genuinely smile about anyway.
All the smiles on the licenses are fake smiles anyway, they don’t use all the muscles that a genuine smile uses around the eyes, and such. Maybe they’re having identity problems because when you match the fake smile on the license with the real person who might be smiling a genuine smile, they don’t match up perfectly.
Thanks DMV, for worrying about identity recognition problems we might face. /sarc
When you’re smiling, yes when you’re smiling, the whole world smiles with you....
They should emulate the process that is used by the Michigan Secretary of State. By the time you spend 2 hrs. in line, waiting for the Union worker at the desk to scowl at you and make flippant, sarcastic remarks, while 3 of his co-workers can be very clearly seen through a doorway on break, eating lunch and drinking coffee....when you finally get to the camera you are never smiling anyway.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.