It seems John H. Gass looks rather similar to another Massachusetts driver, causing the system to revoke his licence after figuring his must be the fake. Rather than head down to the DVLA to sort out the problem, he was instead banned from driving for two weeks, and only won it back after he managed to prove he was who he said he was. Worse yet, it’s estimated another 1000 drivers faced a similar problem last year.
The facial recognition software that the state of Massachusetts uses is identical to the one 34 other states use, paving the way for many more opportunities of mistaken identity for the future. [Boston via Popsci]
Image: Dinomite
EckyThump
Wednesday, July 20, 2011 at 8:51 AMSurly they could built a fudge factor into the system for situations like this? I often run into people I thought was somebody else! You would think they would realise this and have checks a balances built into the system!
Terry
Wednesday, July 20, 2011 at 1:50 PMUnfortunately that would require bureaucrats and public servants to actually, you know, think.
For themselves.
Unfortunately.