(May 26) -- The next time you step in front of the camera for your driver's license photo, you might want to skip the forced smile. Four states have urged drivers to stop grinning because it interferes with anti-fraud protections on driver's license pictures, USA Today reported.
Arkansas, Indiana, Nevada and Virginia tell drivers to keep neutral expressions when they get their license photos taken. The states are using software that compares new license photos with hold ones. Grinning can mess up the facial recognition technology.
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Kiichiro Sato, AP
A teenager waits for his driver's license to be processed in Columbus, Ohio. Thirty-one states use facial-recognition software to fight identity theft on driver's licenses, but only four say smiling can interfere with how well the software works.
A Virginia official told the newspaper that the state prefers dull expressions because they help the software work more accurately. The other three states allow small smiles.
Thirty-one states use computers to compare license photos. But most of them say their software works, smile or no smile, USA Today reported.
