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Moment of recognition. West Virginia's Motor Vehicles Department is piloting the use of facial recognition software to verify license applicants and holders.
Digimarc ID Systems of Tualatin, Ore., is installing FaceIt recognition software from Visionics Corp. of Jersey City, N.J., to compare each new license photo against 2 million JPEG photos stored in the DMV database, said David Bolyard, director of driver services. In seconds, the system flags similar photos so that DMV officials can revoke fraudulent or duplicate licenses.
The pilot did not come about because of worries about foreign terrorists. It was designed to deal with a homegrown problem: bad drivers.
'I'm always concerned when I see people who have a lot of problems on their driving records,' such as multiple points or arrests for driving under the influence, Bolyard said. 'Then all of a sudden, they drop from the system. You never see them again. It concerns me that people are circumventing the system.'
The Revenue Department posted the names of 69 people and businesses that owe taxes.
The debtors posted on the site, at www.dor.state.nc.us/collect/delinquent.html, each have a bill that's more than 90 days overdue. They also failed to respond to letters and calls from state tax collectors.
The amounts owed ranged from a high of $376,736.67 to a low of $3,354.25. Delinquent taxpayers owe the state $379 million, department officials said. They sent a notice by certified mail to each person on the list that their name would be posted on the Web site. Each debtor was given the opportunity to settle the debt prior to listing, officials said.
The District of Columbia, Louisiana, Maryland, Minnesota, Montana, New York City and South Carolina all have similar sites.
Randall Bradford, Arkansas executive CIO, named Miller to the post last month. 'His diversified experience in project management and strategy development made him the best candidate to bring technology security to the state of Arkansas,' Bradford said.
Miller worked for IBM Corp. for 16 years. Later, he worked for EMC Corp. and as a principal consultant with Dell Technology Consulting, where he helped Bradford plan Arkansas' disposition of hard drives.
'Trudy Walsh, Wilson P. Dizard III and Susan M. Menke
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