CHL & Facial Recognition

Aren't all photographs for facial recognition? What else would be the point of putting your picture on your ID, but to help recognize you?

Facial recognition technology already has access to your drivers license photo as well as any other "official" photo that has been taken of you, I expect its just a picture for your CHL.

Ok. So, computers looking at it vs. people? I don't know what other states have the software for that.

Odd, I had my Texas CHL renewed 2 months ago and they reused my CHL photo from 4 years ago, not the one on my DL. That photo was taken by the people conducting our class. So I guess they have two photos of me for facial recognition.

The Fed has been using facial recognition systems at airports since the late 1980s; it was extended to some Federal buildings and Customs sites later. Now that computing power and storage are so cheap, who knows how common it is... It's established technology, though few people are aware of it.

My problem with it is twofold: the false positive rate is high, and this man: http://www.topnews.in/people/sheikh-hassan-nasrallah is, in everything but genetics, my identical twin. Even our birthdays are only a few weeks apart.

When one of the world's most wanted terrorists is walking around wearing your face, it tends to make you a bit paranoid...

My Tennessee Handgun Carry Permit re-uses my Drivers License photo. I could have opted for a new photo. I do not know if they have been biometrically scanned for automated facial recognition purposes.

"Facial Recognition" is a computerized version of Alphonse Bertillon's 1883 system of identifing individuals by low-tech physical measurements, aka Bertillonage*. (It was largely replaced in police use by fingerprinting by the early 20th century.) A lot of current TV shows have shown simulations of taking a suspect's photo, measuring proportions off the facial features (spacing of eyes, nose, chin, width of cheek bones) and matching to scans of CCTV images. That's what is usually implied by "facial recognition" (I call it modern Bertillonage). Fingerprints became almost universal for ID purposes because Bertillonage produces "false positive" matches.




* Per Wikipedia: "The system involved ten measurements; height, stretch (distance from left shoulder to middle finger of raised right arm), bust (torso from head to seat when seated), head length crown to forehead and width temple to temple, width of cheeks and length of the right ear and the left foot, middle finger and cubit (elbow to tip of middle finger). "

They may be needing a new photo, to get 3-D data on your face. Might be a little more complicated than merely a two dimensional drivers license photo.

3D cameras are not required for CHL photos.

So just who exactly was taking your picture?

Texas has used a photo ID for the CHL since the law's inception. I last renewed online and they re-used the old photo. CHL or DL, the photos are in their computer. I guess they're available to DPS troopers on the highway.

Your picture is taken to verify those are your fingerprints since it's handled by a 3rd party.

My initial class in 2008, the instructor took my photo with a standard point and shoot digital camera. He then printed them up for us to place in the photo holders in the packet.

In 2012, as I was gearing up for my renewal, some folks reported that my new license might have my DL photo instead. My renewal instructor did not take our photos, nor did we have to be fingerprinted again. When my new license arrived, it had the same photo as my old CHL. Kind of makes sense that it would be easier to use the photo already on file with the Special Licensing Division rather than having to pull one from the DL side of DPS.

Now that Texas no longer requires a renewal class, I suspect that might change. Venturing into WAG territory, I would suspect that whichever photo is most recent as, if I am remembering correctly, you only have to be photographed every other DL under normal circumstances. Hope that makes sense. I'll let you know in 2017.

I'm getting the short end of the stick either way, as both of my pics look like mugshots with the CHL pic having more of a "throw this guy in the drunk tank" kind of feel. I had been wearing a hat which I could not wear in the photo.

Insofar as a facial recognition database, if one leans in that direction, why not assume the far more widespread DL is being used for the same purpose?

No photos taken or printed on the CPL in Washington.

No photos on the Virginia CHP either.

When I got my Ohio CCW, I had to bring a 2" x 2" color photo that was taken in the last 30 days. When I went in to the Sheriff department to drop off the app and get printed, they tossed my picture (which I paid for), and took a new one.

In Oregon the Drivers license photo is taken with facial recognition software. They had me remove my glasses which are required for driving. Did not make sense so I asked and they said it was for facial recognition. My CHL photo the Sheriff took is not. But they don't need it since they already have my DL picture on file.

Removing your glasses - Oh, NO! - Sez Clark Kent!

Sorry - but I'm not really concerned by the photograph.

No photo required in California, which is odd considering that it's well, California.

Above, I mentioned that facial recognition software was getting cheap. I'm now wondering if I just had an encounter with it.

A friend and I make it out to a particular restaurant once every two or three months. It's a chain restaurant with a high employee turnover; I'm pretty sure I've never seen any of the wait staff twice.

Last week my wife and I went; last time I was in there was at least two months ago. I usually order a particular sandwich with various substitutions instead of the standard item. I had just started explaining what I wanted when the waitress rattled off the rest, asked me if I wanted anything else, and bopped off.

I'm certain I've never seen her before. My wife and I talked about it on the way home, and later I mentioned it to the friend I usually go there with, who was then seriously wierded out.

Did I have an encounter with facial recognition software? Like I was telling my wife, I could patch something workable up out of existing packages if someone were willing to pay me; capture the customer's image as he comes in, greeter seats me and gives the table number to the server, who checks her screen in back to see if there's a hit before she comes out. If there's a hit, it displays what previous orders were. Prepped server is likely to get a bigger tip, happy customer is more likely to return sooner, profits go up a bit.

We're not talking rocket surgery here. They don't need to know who I am, just match a face to an order history, and even a pathetic hit rate like 25% would probably make such a system worthwhile. And they already have the cameras and terminals in place as parts of their security and order system, so it's just software.

my understanding is it is to help insure the ID is correct. I think this is becoming part of all electronic fingerprinting country wide.

The State Department uses FR too. It's pretty common now.

Laura