Identity Verification Process
Your face is in a police search right now. You never handed it to them. If they match you to the wrong person, you can end up in jail. That's what happened to a grandmother named Kimberlee Williams. The police in Maryland matched her face to the wrong person. She sat in jail for six months. By the end of this, you'll know how to keep a stranger's crime off your name.
Your whole face gets turned into 128 numbers. Somebody can copy that list of numbers and search it.
You take a selfie holding your driver's license. A company keeps your selfie and your license together in one file. Later, the police search faces the exact same way.
If the number comes back under 0.6, they call it a match. And nobody ever asks who actually checked that number.
Kimberlee Williams had never once been to Maryland. But a number said she was there. She lost six months of her life anyway.
Your face is sitting in files like that tonight.
In January 2020, Detroit arrested Robert Williams. In June 2021, Oklahoma threw Kimberlee Williams in jail. Both arrests came from a face match, nothing more.
The ACLU counted up these wrongful arrests. So far it's more than a dozen people. The police trusted the match and nothing else.
One little check leaves three things behind about you. It keeps the text off your license, your selfie, and your face numbers.
More than a dozen people got arrested for something they didn't do. And how many more have we never even counted?
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You'd think you could just explain and walk out. Kimberlee Williams explained for six months.
Robert Williams lost one night in jail. Kimberlee Williams lost 180 days. Same mistake, two completely different lives. And nobody paid either of them back.
Michael Oliver sat in jail for 3 days. He lost his job and his car. He sued for $12 million.
A man in Brooklyn got arrested for indecent exposure. The charge went away, but he still couldn't get his job back.
Nijeer Parks had never even visited that town. But his face still landed him in a cell.
The ACLU keeps this list of arrests. Every single one got sold to people as safety. They call it safety while the cell door shuts on you.
The police didn't think Kimberlee Williams was lying. They just didn't listen to what she said at all. A number came back, and they acted on it. And there was nobody in the room she could argue with.
When an app asks for your face and your license, tell it no. Keep dated proof of where you actually were.
Say no to any app that wants your license next to your face. Hang on to your bank card records that show where you were. Turn on the location history you control, or just write it down yourself.
You can change a stolen password tonight. But you can't change your jaw or your eyes.
You hand over a selfie and your license. A company stores them together in one file. The police run a search, and a number answers. And six months of your life just disappear.
The CaraComp write-up walks you through all three of these checks. It shows you what each one leaves behind about you.
Even the people selling this stuff admit it. A selfie check makes an attack harder. But it doesn't make the attack stop.
Write down every place that scanned your face this year. Hang on to receipts and texts with the dates on them. Never answer a police face match without a lawyer.
Kimberlee Williams lost 180 days. She had never once set foot in Maryland. And nobody gave those days back to her.
A green checkmark never actually proved you were you. A number decided, and numbers get people thrown in jail.
Tonight, say no to the next app that wants your license next to your face. Then write down where you were today. Keep that note somewhere you can find it.
The police won't warn you before they knock. Write down where you were tonight.
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