Thursday, May 28, 2009

Mr. Roark is No Longer in the Building

Here's a rule that, while new on the books for Virginia, most DMVs enforce as a part/result of their customer service package: no smiling for ID photos.

Coming from DC I found the Virginia DMV experience almost enjoyable, but I suppose in a few years I'll join my fellow residents of the Old Dominion in straight-faced mirthlessness.

The reason for the rule is to accommodate facial-recognition software, which I suspect is a paranoia-induced boondoggle the thought of which makes me scowl. Better go renew my license!

2 comments:

J. said...

I don't see this being much of a problem.

EMM said...

I have had all of my DC licenses and 2 passports with smiles. If I decide to move to the Commonwealth to buy a home, I'll now have to take into consideration that my day to day ID is going to look like a mug shot. Ick.