Driver's License Photo May Be Subject To Facial Recognition Technology
By Amy E. Feldman
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - Delaware is now letting people smile on their driver's license photos, but is that a good thing?
Who'd have thought that New Jersey would have such tough looking drivers? Oh yeah, everyone. But one of the non-Soprano chic reasons is that the New Jersey Department of Transportation prohibits smiling in driver's license photos.
Delaware's DOT just reversed its policy, but the reason you can now smile in the picture may seem more sinister than a Soprano's episode. It's because facial recognition technology in Delaware has gotten better so your expression won't throw off a search.
Facial recognition technology analyzes a person's features like the shape of eyes or the width of the nose to produce a digital template that can be quickly compared with other faces in a database.
Most people don't mind when facial recognition technology compares mug shots, pictures of people already in the criminal databases, but they grow concerned when they realize driver's license pictures of people who have never been suspected of a crime may be searched with the technology, particularly because state laws vary with regard to who has the right to use technology and when.
Which may make you wonder if being able to smile for the camera really is something to smile about or not.
