RALEIGH, N.C. – In its search for fugitives, the
FBI has begun using
facial-recognition technology on millions of motorists, comparing
driver's license photos
with pictures of convicts in a high-tech analysis of chin widths and nose sizes.
The project in North Carolina
has already helped nab at least one suspect. Agents are eager to look for more
criminals and possibly to expand the effort nationwide. But privacy advocates
worry that the method allows authorities to track people who have done nothing
wrong.
"Everybody's participating, essentially, in a virtual lineup by getting a
driver's license," said Christopher Calabrese, an attorney who focuses on
privacy issues at the American
Civil Liberties Union.
Earlier this year, investigators learned that a double-homicide suspect named
Rodolfo Corrales had moved to North Carolina. The FBI took a 1991 booking photo
from California and
compared it with 30 million photos stored by the
motor vehicle agency in
Raleigh.
In seconds, the search returned dozens of drivers who resembled Corrales, and
an FBI analyst reviewed a gallery of images before zeroing in on a man who
called himself Jose Solis.
A week later, after corroborating Corrales' identity, agents arrested him in
High Point, southwest of
Greensboro, where they believe he had built a new life under the assumed name.
Corrales is scheduled for a preliminary hearing in
Los Angeles later this
month.
"Running facial recognition is not very labor-intensive at all," analyst
Michael Garcia said. "If I
can probe a hundred fugitives and get one or two, that's a home run."
Facial-recognition software is not entirely new, but the
North Carolina project is
the first major step for the FBI as it considers expanding use of the technology
to find fugitives nationwide.
So-called biometric information that is unique to each person also includes
fingerprints and DNA. More distant possibilities include iris patterns in the
eye, voices, scent and even a person's gait.
FBI officials have organized a panel of authorities to study how best to
increase use of the software. It will take at least a year to establish
standards for license photos, and there's no timetable to roll out the program
nationally.
Calabrese said Americans should be concerned about how their driver's
licenses are being used.
Licenses "started as a permission to drive," he said. "Now you need them to
open a bank account. You need them to be identified everywhere. And suddenly
they're becoming the de facto law
enforcement database."
State and federal laws allow
driver's license agencies to release records for law enforcement, and
local agencies have access to North Carolina's database, too. But the FBI is not
authorized to collect and store the photos. That means the facial-recognition
analysis must be done at the
North Carolina Division of Motor Vehicles.
"Unless the person's a criminal, we would not have a need to have that
information in the system," said Kim Del Greco, who oversees the FBI's
biometrics division. "I think that would be a privacy concern. We're staying
away from that."
Dan Roberts, assistant
director of the FBI's
Criminal Justice Information Services Division, added: "We're not
interested in housing a bunch of photos of people who have done absolutely
nothing wrong."
Gone are the days when states made drivers' licenses by snapping Polaroid
photos and laminating them onto cards without recording copies.
Now states have quality photo machines and rules that prohibit drivers from
smiling during the snapshot to improve the accuracy of computer comparisons.
North Carolina's lab scans an image and, within 10 seconds, compares the
likeness with other photos based on an algorithm of factors such as the width of
a chin or the structure of cheekbones. The search returns several hundred photos
ranked by the similarities.
"We'll get some close hits, and we'll get some hits that are right on," said
Stephen Lamm, who oversees the DMV lab.
The technology allowed the DMV to quickly highlight 28 different photos of
one man who was apparently using many identities. It also identified one person
who, as part of a sex change, came in with plucked eyebrows, long flowing hair
and a new name — but the same radiant smile.
The system is not always right. Investigators used one DMV photo of an
Associated Press reporter to search for a second DMV photo, but the system first
returned dozens of other people, including a
North Carolina terrorism
suspect who had some similar facial features.
The images from the reporter and terror suspect scored a likeness of 72
percent, below the mid-80s that officials consider a solid hit.
Facial-recognition experts believe the technology has improved drastically
since 2002, when extremely high failure rates led authorities to scrap a program
planned for the entrances to the
Winter Olympics in Salt
Lake City.
Lamm said investigators reviewing the galleries can almost always find the
right photo, using a combination of the computer and the naked eye.
Marc Rotenberg,
executive director of the
Electronic Privacy Information Center, questioned whether the
facial-recognition systems that were pushed after the
Sept. 11 attacks are
accurate or even worthwhile.
"We don't have good photos of terrorists," Rotenberg said. "Most of the
facial-recognition systems today are built on state DMV records because that's
where the good photos are. It's not where the terrorists are."