December 9th, 2008 By Justin Williams
Do Not Smile or Say Cheese at the BMV
New restrictions are in place for Indiana’s drivers license photos that restrict you from wearing glasses or smiling while getting your photo taken. The Indiana BMV has implemented facial recognition software to help prevent identity theft. Sounds like we’re one step closer to becoming a police state.
What I want to know is how does a beard or mustache will impact the recognition software. It seems like if I change that aspect of my appearance, it could curb the success of the software’s algorithms.
The full story’s video is here. Thanks to ABC for not allowing embeds. How 2005 of you.
Thanks to emily for the tip
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I just got my license updated last week. I thought it was interesting that they did that as well. It would be interesting to test your theory.
“What I want to know is how does a beard or mustache will impact the recognition software. It seems like if I change that aspect of my appearance, it could curb the success of the software’s algorithms.”
Doesn’t affect it at all, unless maybe you have enough facial hair to completely obscure the position of your mouth. Even then, they can do quite a bit. The software uses positions such as each corner of both eyes; the bridge, tip, and sides of your nose; the tops and bottoms of your ears, and the top, sides, and bottom of your head. Then it maps the spatial relationships between them and that’s what it uses for recognition.
Wearing eyeglasses may obscure the sides of the eyes and the bridge of your nose, and possibly the tops of your ears. That’s why they don’t want you wearing them. As for the smiling… I’m not real sure about that one.
Today I start growing my mutton chops for next years new license!