John H. Gass hadn’t had a traffic ticket in years, so the Natick resident was surprised this spring when he received a letter from the Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles informing him to cease driving because his license had been revoked.
And apparently, he has company. Last year, the facial recognition system picked out more than 1,000 cases that resulted in State Police investigations, officials say. And some of those people are guilty of nothing more than looking like someone else. Not all go through the long process that Gass says he endured, but each must visit the Registry with proof of their identity.
To be fair, it’s the first generation of many generations of our ruling class automating it’s job. It will improve as the technology improves.
Progressive control obsession and attitude towards “good of the many… vs. rights of one” (from article, official cite’: “A driver’s license is not a matter of civil rights. It’s not a right. It’s a privilege,’’ she said. “Yes, it is an inconvenience [to have to clear your name], but lots of people have their identities stolen, and that’s an inconvenience, too.’’ “)
Could have used recognition software for the picture of part of former NY representative, Mr. Weiner.
UNBRIDLED Technology GRINDS HUMANITY INTO PASTE !!!
Time to put a STOP TO THIS AUTOMATED NONSENSE !!!
Dumb computer or Dumb people, which is worse??
“..And some are guilty of nothing more than looking like someone else..”
That’s a bad ass law! Who in the hell governs that state?
The number seems to become more important than the person it represents.Very sad.
It will soon be an inconvenience to be human.
Here’s a better idea — stop trying to save money by mail-in license renewals.
I think my California picture didn’t get updated for ten years.
In principle, I agree people’s license photos should look like them. It’s such a critical piece of ID these days.
But, accomplish this the old way with renewals, not by some buggy overpriced software package sold to the government by a no-bid contractor.
I guess in Massachusetts it is guilty until proven innocent!
Lets get some hints here, FIRST…
1.”After frantic calls and a hearing with Registry officials, Gass learned the problem: An antiterrorism computerized facial recognition system that scans a database of millions of state driver’s license images had picked his as a possible fraud.
It turned out Gass was flagged because he looks like another driver, not because his image was being used to create a fake identity. ”
Anti terror program?? ANOTHER driver??
2.”“We send out 1,500 suspension letters every day,’’ said Registrar Rachel Kaprielian, who says the system has been a powerful weapon to fight identity fraud since it was installed in 2006 but that it is not without problems. “There are mistakes that can be made.’’”
1500×200 days a yearx5 years??1,500,000..
3.”Massachusetts began using the software after receiving a $1.5 million grant from the US Department of Homeland Security as part of an effort to prevent terrorism, reduce fraud, and improve the reliability and accuracy of personal identification documents that states issue.”
Umm, terrorism and fraud..Back to #1..LOOKED like someone else, but it wasnt for FRAUD??
The Character recog program found 2 persons that Met the same POINTS in recognition..(TV CSI, Where are you?/ WHO made this program?)
4.”At least 34 states are using such systems. They help authorities verify a person’s claimed identity and track down people who have multiple licenses under different aliases, such as underage people wanting to buy alcohol, people with previous license suspensions, and people with criminal records trying to evade the law. Lisa Cradit, a spokeswoman for L-1 Identity Solutions, the largest developer of the software, said it can reduce fraud by 80 percent.”
A few answers.
5.”The system looks at each driver’s license photograph stored in the state’s computers, mapping thousands of facial data points and generating algorithms that compare the images to others in the mathematical database, said State Police spokesman David Procopio. The software then displays licenses with similar-looking photographs – those with two or more images that have a high score for being the same person.”
I said this already..BUT, couldnt a PERSON look at the pictures?? NOT AUTO KILL A LICENSE??
6.”Last year, State Police obtained 100 arrest warrants for fraudulent identity, and 1,860 licenses were revoked as a result of the software, according to Procopio.”
Umm, #2, refutes this..They send out 1500 per day(Snail make at $0.43 each???)
NOW, a few things to suggest..
1. a NEW picture every 5 years..
2. PROOF? What proof do you need? The persons have to PROVE address location. Even after showing SS card, and Pictures and Birth cert..
I WILL BET, that they want a NEW picture..a special PICTURE..a PHySICAL/LIVE, Picture..
1500 per day?? and in 5 years they Caught HOW MANY?? 1.5 m people of 4m population??
And they can PHysicALLY handle 1500 people, EACH DAY?? as well as the Standard that come in DAILY?? WOW.
…apparently there is no way that anyone could ever look similar to anyone else.
…apparently there is no such thing as twins, triplets, quads, and et cetra according to DHS and MA things like that could never ever happen.
“Kaprielian said the Registry gives drivers enough time to respond to the suspension letters and that it is the individual’s “burden’’ to clear up any confusion. She added that protecting the public far outweighs any inconvenience Gass or anyone else might experience.
“A driver’s license is not a matter of civil rights. It’s not a right. It’s a privilege,’’ she said. “Yes, it is an inconvenience [to have to clear your name], but lots of people have their identities stolen, and that’s an inconvenience, too.’’”
Wow… talk about absurd. Typical law enforcement bs, There is no problem until they create a problem and then they ensure that you cannot solve the problem in a timely fashion and maintain that when you object that you are the problem. Shut up slave!
The issue of rights has no bearing on this situation since the subject had done nothing to forfeit the license!
39. No freemen shall be taken or imprisoned or disseised or exiled or in any way destroyed, nor will we go upon him nor send upon him, except by the lawful judgment of his peers or by the law of the land.
— Magna Carta
So this system can basically steal your identity, assign it to someone else and make you pay the consequences of that someone else.
Lovely. Seems like it creates fraud to me.
That dumb ass, Registrar Rachel Kaprielian, babbling along about “not a right” and “inconvenience” is not only committing fraud, but is assisting terrorists everywhere by disrupting innocent lives in the name of security. Another idiot bureaucrat riding the no-clue train.
Ben Franklin would be ashamed of Massachusetts.
The thought of that whole face recognition process and it’s probable failings make my head hurt.How can you prove that you are who you say you are without a DNA match from your
day of birth.I remain skeptical of all certificates of identity because they can all be faked at some point in life.
all part of Obama’s plan to discourage driving, just asthey are deiscouraging flyinjg.
#13, Indeed. And just what did most of us use for ID to get the driver’s license in the first place? I used a birth certificate, which, anyone could have gone in there with claiming to be the person named. I also may have used a high school ID card. I don’t even think I had a Social Security card at the time. Not that an SS card is any kind of ID.
I wonder what exactly the subject of the article used to identify himself. The only thing I have with my name, picture and address on it is my driver’s license. Passports instruct you to fill in your address IN PENCIL!
It’s time for retina scans!
I DID have my mother with me.
I look like a movie star. I sure hope it doesn’t inconvenience the guy.
What happened to the unique fingerprint?
I know someone who knows someone in the MA State Troopers, and they are using facial recognition SW in their patrol cars… they drive slowly down the street with the camera pointing at the people on the sidewalk and try to identify everyone.
# 11 dittmv :
Magna Carta??? Poop. We don’t need no Magna Carta, we’re Democrats!
Which also answers the quiet question asked by our liberal friend: # 6 Dallas who said,”That’s a bad ass law! Who in the hell governs that state?” His Excellency Deval Patrick (D), “Pleased to screw you.”
#19 Oops, I though it was the mormon thumper, Mitt Romney and my comment backfired.
Let me think of something else.
Wowser. As if ‘extortion for clunkers’ wasn’t bad enough.
Now, big Sis Napolitano doesn’t want you to drive your clunker.
Guilty until proven innocent, I guess.
Welcome to the Obamanation.
MassHoles
We need to dump the Napolitano dude ASAP BTW.
That’s it.
This drivers license thing + $2M for Planned Parenthood’s baby killing is all I can take from this negro’s administration.
Perhaps the 1500 a day is because they send the notice out weekly. If It’s monthly that drops the number to 125000, and weekly is 30,000.
Shouldn’t they use the software, and then send police to investigate? This is the state that assigns police officers overtime for every construction project that needs traffic to be flagged.
As a society (USA) we are rapidly approaching the turning point where we have so devalued an individual as a constructive member of society, that; we feel it’s better to Let 100 Innocent Go to Jail Than release 1 guilty.
Benjamin Franklin once noted “that it is better [one hundred] guilty Persons should escape than that one innocent Person should suffer.”
A Missouri district court said in 1877 that it was “better that some guilty ones should escape than that many innocent persons should be subjected to the expense and disgrace attendant upon being arrested upon a criminal charge.”
It used to be it’s better to Let 100 guilty Men Go Than Jail 1 Innocent.
All this comes from Abraham’s celebrated haggle from the book of Genesis: Wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked?
It became the “Blackstone ratio” Where Lawyers “are indoctrinated” with it “early in law school.”
Don’t take it so hard. He’s only half-black. Sort of a soul brother but without the soul.
Besides, what makes Obama suck is that he’s giving us W’s 3rd term.
So it’s not a race thing at all.
OK – To get the license, I need to prove my address? To get an apartment or mortgage or utility bill so I can prove an address, I need to provide a license…. Taken to an extreme, no amount of proof will suffice for either.
Every time I see Napolitano, I feel ill… and I’m not even American. How can someone so ignorant get to be in power?
Why these systems are nonsense:
“Let’s look at some numbers. We’ll be optimistic. We’ll assume the system has a 1 in 100 false positive rate (99% accurate), and a 1 in 1,000 false negative rate (99.9% accurate).
Assume one trillion possible indicators to sift through: that’s about ten events — e-mails, phone calls, purchases, web surfings, whatever — per person in the U.S. per day. Also assume that 10 of them are actually terrorists plotting.
This unrealistically-accurate system will generate one billion false alarms for every real terrorist plot it uncovers. Every day of every year, the police will have to investigate 27 million potential plots in order to find the one real terrorist plot per month. Raise that false-positive accuracy to an absurd 99.9999% and you’re still chasing 2,750 false alarms per day — but that will inevitably raise your false negatives, and you’re going to miss some of those ten real plots.
This isn’t anything new. In statistics, it’s called the “base rate fallacy” and it applies in other domains as well. For example, even highly accurate medical tests are useless as diagnostic tools if the incidence of the disease is rare in the general population. Terrorist attacks are also rare, any “test” is going to result in an endless stream of false alarms. ”
From bruce schneier http://schneier.com/crypto-gram-0603.html