Friday
(0)The British passport service is demanding that folk no longer are allowed to smile sweetly for the camera when it comes to having a passport photo taken. Apparently, if you show your gleaming grin on a passport picture it messes up the face recognition systems being introduced into airports and other places.
So in other words, it is now official policy for British citizens to look miserable. Marvellous. So now the cliche about we Brits being a nation of gloomy folk is now to receive the official sanction of the State. Does this mean our grinning Prime Minister will be similarly affected? Is it now considered un-PC and unpatriotic to look cheerful and happy?
Of course, this reminds me of the old joke: If you resemble a passport picture, it is time you took a holiday. (Which reminds me - I am off to Malta and outa here in a week for some much-needed R&R!).
Ah yes, we've had that one for the last couple of years in Canada too. I was wondering the reason.
Posted by David at August 6, 2004 08:36 PM
Wow. Face recognition technology has been sold as a security measure and it depends upon the subject having the same expression? What else will cause it to fail? Tan? Toothache? Black eye? Stubble? Different brand of fag in gob? Unplucked nostril hair?
Quick, shovel more tax money at the problem!
Posted by zmollusc at August 6, 2004 09:30 PM
What struck me is that traveling so moribund an experience that no one smiles at airports or train stations? Perhaps this is a wake up call to mass transportation! I'm surprised the Masters didn't take this as signal-one for a State funded campaign to enliven the travel experience.
Also, isn't a tip off to criminals and the malfeasant that all they have to do is go around the terminal with a fat grin on their face?
Posted by toolkien at August 6, 2004 10:09 PM
Isn't it time we had publicly-accessible files of all passport and ID-card-development officials with their faces and personal details?
If they have us on file, we should make sure we all have them on file.
Mark
Posted by mark griffith at August 7, 2004 12:22 AM
Ah, back to Bertillonage. (I recommend Simon Cole's Suspect Identities: A History of Fingerprinting and Criminal Identification)) Measuring people works, just about, but only if they are measured correctly. Machines aren't magic and neither are "biometrics" even if the Home Office thinks they are.
My little suggestion: don't smile. Chew gum or give your best Roger Moore impression...
Posted by Guy Herbert at August 7, 2004 07:00 AM
The mind boggles at how you would try and prevent people from smiling at immigration counters in the UK. Do you have pictures of David Blunkett (guaranteed to wipe the smile off any face) together with an admonition that 'only terrorists smile'?
Posted by Julian Taylor at August 7, 2004 12:33 PM
How sad that they would do this, now that the UK appears to have discovered the advantages of post-Com Bloc quality dentistry.
Sorry guys - had to get in the obligatory Brit dentistry crack.
You're entitled to comeback with either (a) American beer is piss; or (b) Big talk for a one-eyed fat man. Go ahead, your move.
Posted by Al Maviva at August 7, 2004 05:25 PM
There seem to be a number of 'makeover' series on the telly. Will these soon be outlawed? Will plastic surgeons be forced to keep accurate before and after records of their clients and pass these along to big blunkett?
Posted by zmollusc at August 7, 2004 08:13 PM
A German citizen has just won a court battle confirming his right to stick his tongue out in his passport photo.
Apparently there is no law prohibiting it so...
Its a pleasingly strange world.
Posted by paul d s at August 8, 2004 10:33 PM
I find it hard to imagine anyone smiling at immigration. The whole vibe does not lend itself to levity.
Posted by Andrew Ian Dodge at August 9, 2004 12:01 AM
How often do people smile when government functionaries stop them and ask for their ID? Maybe the British passport service just wants to make sure the face and ID photo match.
Posted by Alan K. Henderson at August 9, 2004 10:23 AM
How sad that they would do this, now that the UK appears to have discovered the advantages of post-Com Bloc quality dentistry.
err, were we ever a part of the Communist Bloc?
Strange ...
Posted by Julian Taylor at August 9, 2004 02:12 PM
