UK’s The Register reports that a 35-year-old Dutchman has thumbed his nose at new, and supposedly strict, rules about personal identification by painting his face like The Joker for his national ID card.
According to the website, laws instituted in August in The Netherlands prohibit grins, hats or sunglasses in passport photographs so as not to confuse facial-recognition scanners. However, the Dutchman who painted himself up like the Clown Prince of Crime had little difficulty skirting the rules. The only hiccup came when he was asked to remove his hat. When he insisted he wore it for religious purposes, he was allowed to keep it. You can see his photo at the link.
The Forbidden Planet International blog, where I found this item, notes the uproar that’s erupted because of the incident: “Dutch politicians are in a tizzy over the potential security implications — presumably they are worried Holland will become a haven for illegal supervillian refugees, or perhaps the losing side of Civil War will seek refuge in Holland.”
January 25th, 2007 at 1:32 pm
I totally recognize that dude from his work with Robert Wiene.
January 25th, 2007 at 6:55 pm
As a Dutchman who’ll have to get his passport renewed later this year, I applaud this guy. We’re not allowed to even smile anymore? Yes, let’s all be grouchy, that’ll stop the terrorists.
(And for the record, super-refugees are welcome here. Our government will never be able to push through a registration act.)
January 26th, 2007 at 4:51 am
Here in the UK, there was always an unenforced rule that you weren’t allowed to smile on your passport photo. You had to look neutral. And sunglasses and hats were never really allowed. So hardly strict.
And it’s hardly a great inconvenience, is it? Why do people object to this sort of thing?
January 26th, 2007 at 4:52 am
Here, here, Niels, the Netherland has been a well known haven of tolerance for centuries and I am sure they would embrace displaced super-persons too. Plus the Dutch have those bags of Olliebollen (or however it is spelt) which are yummy.
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