Google photos is pretty good at picking out faces which turn up in multiple photos. I’ve been impressed at times when it has correctly picked up a face in the background which I hadn’t noticed.
You can remove an erroneously identified face from a grouping, and merge groups where the same person has been identified as two different ones.
However, you cannot add a face to a group directly.
And the one thing which it handles terribly is where one has a boy-mode and a girl-mode, seeing both faces (not terribly surprisingly maybe) as the same person which, whilst literally true, is not really how I’d like my images grouped.
It is interesting that the changes in hair and makeup don’t significantly change the identification by their algorithm. I assume that it works on facial geometry.
After attempting many solutions to this connundrum, I finally bit the bullet and transferred all of my girl-mode photographs & videos to a new account – moving the girl-mode ones rather than the boy-mode ones simply because of the sheer volume of boy-mode ones dating back decades.
In the new account, Sophie is now accurately grouped with photographs of herself. I’m not saying I take a lot of photos & videos, but the new account is currently holding 84GB of them. (The boy-mode account is sitting at 1638GB in comparison, although this has much more in it than just selfies and nights out!)
Whilst this workaround is available for Google, the same cannot be said for the Passport Office or DVLA.
UK’s DVLA will not allow a second photocard with a girl-mode photo – even if all the other details including name are the same. Of course, DVLA has a particular problem because they encode gender within the Driver Number – maybe a poor decision with hindsight. Those undergoing a full permanent transition end up with a new Driver Number simply because of this encoding.
The UK Passport Office will allow a second passport to be held in some circumstances. But not with a different photograph, and wanting to be able to travel in boy-mode or girl-mode at will is not a reason they will accept.
Thus when needing to identify myself as old enough to enter a nightclub (yes, really, much to my amusement) I have to rely upon my driving licence with its boy-mode name and boy-mode photo. For the friendly places I go, this isn’t really a problem – but it’s hardly ideal.
Is a Gender Marker really needed at all?
Some countries now recognise some form of “third gender”, such as “U” for Unspecified/Unknown (in some instances, typically with passports, recorded as “X”). Germany has allowed “other” on driving licences, birth certificates and other official documents since 2019. India has legislation recognising a third gender, although implementation seems patchy.
Some countries are removing gender markers from certain documents; French driving licences, and Dutch ID cards (from 2025 or thereabouts).
New Zealand proposed to the ICAO in 2012 that gender markers should no longer be included on travel documents. No sign of this yet, but in time maybe.
For completely unrelated reasons, I have previously undergone an identity change in the form of a new name. This was a tedious but relatively straightforward process, and merely required supplying a copy of the relevant document to… well, everyone and their dog. In particular, my employer at the time was a University and I had to send a copy of the documentation to ELEVEN different places within the one organisation, which amazed/amused/frustrated me at the time. Yet getting any sort of proof-of age card for girl-mode seems to be a far more complex problem. I wonder if I’ll be able to solve it before I qualify for a free Bus Pass at 60?
UPDATE
I’ve had a lovely conversation with someone at My ID Card this morning, and they will be able to provide me with a proof-of-age card carrying my girl-mode photograph provided that:
- The name matches that of my legal identity – I’m ok with that
- The photo is certified by an acceptable “verifier” as being of me
Looks like I’ll get my proof-of-age card before my free Bus Pass after all!
Sophie Baskerville 