Are photo ids racist ? (White Balance)

Factual Questions
1

As a person of color, I often find that my picture taken for an ID badge looks awful (lacking facial features). Reading how face detection software are preferential to white faces, I started digging up and saw this YouTube video : Color film was built for white people. Here's what it did to dark skin. - YouTube that suggests that the camera defaults for white balance are set for white skin tone. My questions are in two parts :

  1. Do most modern camera defaults (auto and portrait mode) have white balance optimized for white skin tones ? (To be specific consider all Canon, Nikon and Olympus point and shoot digital cameras)

  2. Does racial non-discrimination laws translate to requiring the photographer to be trained for white balance at the following :
    A. Drivers license (take California and Georgia to be specific)
    B. Federal facilities (e.g. DOE sites or DOD sites)
    C. Costco

2

It isn’t a white balance issue–that is about the lighting source. It is a brightness/contrast/dynamic range issue. Lighter faces reflect more light than dark faces. So what needs to be adjusted is the shutter speed or f-stop, or switching to center-weighted metering (or more than one of the above.)
(Obligatory Better Off Ted reference.)

3

I can pretty much guarantee that I’m not 18% grey.

4

This is why many cinematographers prefer filming darker skin tones, FWIW.

5

On which grounds do you imagine such a law would be Constitutional?

6

I do not know and hence the question. Are you saying it’s not a reasonable expectation?

7

Correct. Such a law is not a reasonable expectation.

8

Since this is GQ, may I request a cite to back that up ? Or a cite for something similar ?

9

The OP was asking if existing law would apply, not if such a law could pass and be upheld.

10

It depends. If persons of color have significantly more difficulty gaining access to certain facilities because the facial recognition system doesn’t accommodate darker skin tones, for example, you could definitely get into an equal protection issue.

11

As mentioned, it’s an exposure issue, not white balance.

I used to do wedding photography back in the film days and a dark skin tone bride in a white dress was very difficult to do. Still is, but shooting digital in raw format makes it easier to get decent results.

12

Article I of the Constitution.

13

What in article 1 applies to the OP?

14

My bad. I meant the First Amendment.

15

The photographer at Costco has rights to free speech; on what basis do you conclude the DMV as an institution and a unit of government has the same rights?

16

Yeah, you’re gonna have to walk me through that.

17

Freedom of expression. There’s a zero chance that a law regulating “white face” in photographs would pass Constitutional muster.

18

You’ll need to be more specific, what does making accurate, useful IDs have to do with personal expression?

19

Does the DMV have “freedom of expression” if the results of that expression have a disproportionate effect upon one race?

Does ANY governmental body have freedom of expression comparable to that enjoyed by private citizens?

I think the answer to both questions is a resounding No; on what basis do you conclude otherwise? For example, would you argue that the clerks at the DMV can put vulgar epithets on the drivers’ licenses of certain customers, and use ‘freedom of expression’ as an excuse?

Photographs produced by private individuals fall into a separate category, but photographs on official ID have different constitutional requirements, and I would refer you to the 14th Amendment, specifically the end of Section 1 (“nor shall any State … deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws”). If my ID is substantially less useful to me than another person’s to them because some governmental body can’t be bothered to photograph people of my skin tone accurately, that’s an equal protection issue, and I see no constitutional problem in a law requiring the DMV, or the FBI or any other public agency that uses photography or facial recognition, to behave in a manner that does not unduly burden members of one race.

20

[Moderating]

The OP was asking a factual question. This is the place for asking factual questions. If you have an answer to the factual question, give it. If you’re just here to snark on the OP’s ignorance, leave.

EDIT: Directed at D’Anconia.