Four states adopt 'no-smiles' policy for driver's licenses

[BocaVision]

Four states adopt 'no-smiles' policy for driver's licenses - USATODAY.com

Whats next?

No smiling while driving?

Four states adopt 'no-smiles' policy for driver's licenses

By Thomas Frank, USA TODAY
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.

Dull expressions "make the comparison process more accurate," says Karen Chappell, deputy commissioner of the Virginia DMV, whose no-smile policy took effect in March.

Elaine Mullen of Great Falls, Va., bristled at the policy while renewing her license until she heard the reasoning. "It's probably safer from a national-security point of view," she says.

Arkansas, Indiana and Nevada allow slight smiles. "You just can't grin really large," Arkansas driver services chief Tonie Shields says.

A total of 31 states do computerized matching of driver's license photos and three others are considering it, says the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators. Most say their software matches faces regardless of expressions. "People can smile here in Pennsylvania," state Transportation Department spokesman Craig Yetter says.

In Illinois, photo matching has stopped 6,000 people from getting fraudulent licenses since the technology was launched in 1999, says Beth Langen, the state head of Drivers Services.

 

[johname]

the real reason for the no smile is that they are comparing your dmv pic to mug shots, almost no one smiles in a mug shot.

 

[randomo]

I renewed my driver's license last year, and for the first time, they made me take off my glasses for the picture. What's next?

 

[johname]

 

[James]

I renewed my driver's license last year, and for the first time, they made me take off my glasses for the picture. What's next?

Why would you want your photo taken with glasses on?

I have to drive with glasses but took my photo without them on.