Don't flash a toothy smile, don't wear your glasses and don't wear a hat or head scarf while you're getting your photo taken for an Indiana driver's license or identification card.
The Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles last month rolled out a new set of rules governing how people must be photographed on their driver's license photos.
No, the rules aren't designed to make driver's license photos -- which already had a reputation for being unflattering -- even worse.
Rather, the BMV is making the photographs uniform so their facial recognition software can be its most effective in spotting fraudulent license applications.
A person's new photograph will be compared against old photographs on file -- more than 6 million dating back at least eight years -- to protect customers from identity fraud, said Ron Stiver, BMV commissioner.
"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.
BMV Communications Director Dennis Rosebrough said if a criminal went to get a driver's license under his name, the criminal's photograph would be compared to an old photograph of Rosebrough and the BMV could be alerted the next day that the two don't match.
Rosebrough said the new technology is just an advancement of what the BMV already was doing. 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 facial recognition software might raise privacy issues, Rosebrough acknowledged. The BMV could give police a photo of a wanted person and that person could be arrested going through an airport where facial recognition software is used.
But Rosebrough said the BMV has long cooperated with law enforcement to provide photos and information that leads to arrests.
The bottom line, Rosebrough said, is that in this day of identity theft and fraud, "We believe it's our responsibility to assure all Hoosiers the credentials we issue ... are as accurate as possible." He said Indiana is one of about 20 states using the technology.
Rosebrough said BMV customers can petition to leave on headdresses in photographs for religious reasons and can petition to have a nonphoto license or identification card. Overall, the rule changes have been implemented without a hitch.
"We've really had minimal issues," Rosebrough said.
"If people understand why we're doing something, our experience is the great, great majority of our customers say 'fine, we get it.' "
