Colorado Won't Use Facial Recognition Technology On Licenses
'Big Brother' Scare Linked To Erroneous AP Report
DENVER -- Colorado has no plans to use new facial recognition computer technology to scan old driver's licenses, despite what you may have heard.
Dorothy Dalquist, the Colorado Department of Revenue's communication director, blamed an erroneous Associated Press news report for the confusion. The AP report said that the new digital images on driver's licenses will be compared with photo-radar "images captured on the road"
"We're not in the photo-radar business," she told the Pueblo Chieftain, "and have no intention of getting into it."
Denver and other cities use photo radar to enforce traffic regulations but Colorado doesn't use it.
However, under a bill recently signed into law by Gov. Bill Owners, the state will use biometric facial recognition technology. It will be used only as a security device against driver's license fraud, according to Dalquist.
"The driver's license has become the standard form of identification," Dalquist said. "The digital imaging can prevent the same person from getting multiple driver's licenses under different names. We're trying to crack down on ID theft."
The state will collect an additional 60 cents with driver's license renewals for the next five years to pay Polaroid to supply the digital imaging technology, which will be in use sometime next year. That plan may be in limbo, however, after a report that the image giant may file for bankruptcy protection.
The privacy issue surfaced when the Associated Press picked up a Denver Post story about the new technology, but inserted an erroneous sentence that the department "plans to scan old driver's license photos into a computer database and then compare those pictures to images captured on the road."
Dalquist said that the AP reporter apologized for the mistaken insertion into the original story.
Colorado's driver's license plan "triggered an interest because of the nationwide concern about invasion of privacy," Dalquist said.
"Some news outlets around the country tried to speculate on what we're trying to do in Colorado. We're just trying to make a driver's license as secure a document as we can make it," she said
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However, under a bill recently signed into law by Gov. Bill Owners, the state will use biometric facial recognition technology. It will be used only as a security device against driver's license fraud, according to Dalquist.
"The driver's license has become the standard form of identification," Dalquist said. "The digital imaging can prevent the same person from getting multiple driver's licenses under different names. We're trying to crack down on ID theft."
The state will collect an additional 60 cents with driver's license renewals for the next five years to pay Polaroid to supply the digital imaging technology, which will be in use sometime next year. That plan may be in limbo, however, after a report that the image giant may file for bankruptcy protection.
The privacy issue surfaced when the Associated Press picked up a Denver Post story about the new technology, but inserted an erroneous sentence that the department "plans to scan old driver's license photos into a computer database and then compare those pictures to images captured on the road."
Dalquist said that the AP reporter apologized for the mistaken insertion into the original story.
Colorado's driver's license plan "triggered an interest because of the nationwide concern about invasion of privacy," Dalquist said.
"Some news outlets around the country tried to speculate on what we're trying to do in Colorado. We're just trying to make a driver's license as secure a document as we can make it," she said
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