Hoosier Smile For ?

From Channel 6, Indianapolis:
INDIANAPOLIS -- The Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles is restricting glasses, hats, scarves -- and even smiles -- in driver's license photographs.The new rules imposed last month were deemed necessary so that facial recognition software can spot fraudulent license applications, said BMV spokesman Dennis Rosebrough.
The software compares applicants' new photographs with old photographs on file to protect them from identity fraud, said BMV commissioner Ron Stiver."We take very seriously our responsibility to help protect the personal identity of Hoosiers, and the employment of this innovative technology is yet another important step forward in doing just that," Stiver said.

The new technology represents an advancement of what the BMV already was doing, Rosebrough said. BMV employees always have looked at the old photo of a person to see if it looked like the person seeking a new license."The way our technology works, overnight, it would do a complete database search," Rosebrough said. "If there was an issue, it would pop up on a report that would be followed up on the next day."Indiana is one of about 20 states using the facial recognition technology, he said, and other states have similar restrictions on driver's license photographs."We believe it's our responsibility to assure all Hoosiers the credentials we issue ... are as accurate as possible," Rosebrough said.BMV officials want driver's license photographs to accurately show people's permanent facial features. That means that glasses need to be removed. And if a person has hair hanging their face, it should be swept aside. Smiling is also restricted because it can distort facial features measured by the software, Rosebrough said."Anything that would obstruct that permanent physical feature would then diminish the reliability and effectiveness of the technology," he said.


There's little doubt how important it is for the state of Indiana, still reeling from the John Dillinger crime spree of the 1930s and the 1984 arrival of the Irsay family, to keep track of their citizenry. Still, you have to wonder how a smile can upset their efforts at comparing one's facial features of today with how things looked four years ago. Unless it's one of those really sinister smiles, which distorts all the goodness in one's otherwise cherubic countenance.

I always give my license photo the full cheese. In fact, one time, at a drive-in bank, the teller asked me if she could take the license, which I had sent to her through the magic of pneumatic pressure, and show it to the other women behind the counter. "I've never seen anyone smile so much on their license!," she exclaimed. "If you're not happy now, when do you plan to start?," I explained.

So that makes two reasons why I can't move to Indiana.