Osama Bin Laden's time advanced photo used facial features from a Spanish politician - Polidicks

[url]http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8463657.stm[/url] [quote] [img]http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/47125000/jpg/_47125377_binladenllamazares466.jpg[/img] A Spanish politician has said he was shocked to find out the FBI had used his photo for a digitally-altered image showing how Osama Bin Laden might look. Gaspar Llamazares said he would no longer feel safe travelling to the US after his hair and parts of his face appeared on a most-wanted poster. He said the use of a real person for the mocked-up image was "shameless". The FBI admitted a forensic artist had obtained certain facial features "from a photograph he found on the internet". The digitally-altered photos of the al-Qaeda leader, showing how he might look now, aged 52, were published on the state department's Rewards for Justice website on Friday. Officials said they had adapted a 1998 file image to take account of a decade's worth of ageing, and possible changes to facial hair. 'Unintentional and inadvertent' Mr Llamazares, 52, the former leader of the United Left coalition in parliament, said he could not believe it when he was first told about the similarity between himself and the new photo-fit of Bin Laden. He said he soon realised that his forehead, hair and jaw-line had been "cut and pasted" from an old campaign photograph. "I was surprised and angered because it's the most shameless use of a real person to make up the image of a terrorist," he told a news conference. "It's almost like out of a comedy if it didn't deal with matters as serious as Bin Laden and citizens' security." The FBI claimed to have used "cutting edge" technology, but Mr Llamazares said it showed the "low level" of US intelligence services and could cause problems if he was wrongly identified as the Saudi. "Bin Laden's safety is not threatened by this but mine certainly is," he said, adding that he was considering taking legal action. Later, an FBI spokesman told the BBC that it was "aware of the similarities in hairline features of the age-progressed photograph of Osama Bin Laden, posted on the web yesterday, and that of an existing photograph of a Spanish public official". "When producing age-progressed photographs, forensic artists typically select features from a database of stock reference photographs to create the new image." "After a preliminary review, it appears that in this instance the forensic artist was unable to find suitable features among the reference photographs and obtained those features, in part, from a photograph he found on the internet." "The forensic artist was not aware of the identity of the individual depicted in the photograph. The similarities between the photos were unintentional and inadvertent." [/quote] tl;dr summary Mr. Gaspar Llamazares, a member of the Spanish Communist Party, noticed when seeing the picture of Bin Laden it looked suspiciously familiar... then he saw it. His forehead and hair had been ripped from a public photo and used in the age-advanced picture of Bin Laden the FBI released. The FBI didn't give a full comment, but said that they acknowledged the similarities and attributed it to one of the people who worked on the picture. Yea, after all that grandstanding the security agencies did about how advanced their technology was, it seems to have been nothing more than a fancy photoshop of various pictures, including Mr. Llamazares. So Facepunchers, if you got mad photoshop skills, the high-tech US security agencies want you! :911:

In other news today the world didn't stop turning

Holy shit, that sucks for him. But I highly doubt that is what Osama looks like now.

-snip-

This sounds like some sort of geopolitical prank.

It's all an exercise in futility, Bin Laden is clearly dead by now.

[QUOTE=Pedro the Fuzzy;19671541]Holy shit, that sucks for him. But I highly doubt that is what Osama looks like now.[/QUOTE] Probably more like this now: [IMG]http://i45.tinypic.com/earv48.jpg[/IMG]

[img]http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/47125000/jpg/_47125377_binladenllamazares466.jpg[/img] I keep seeing Han Solo when I glance at the middle one.

Whats this guy's problem? They used his face cause they look the same, not cause they think hes a terrorist or some shit.

[QUOTE=Dirty_Ape;19672768]Whats this guy's problem? They used his face cause they look the same, not cause they think hes a terrorist or some shit.[/QUOTE] The FBI claimed they were using an advanced technology to age Bin Laden's photo. They were bragging about it a lot too. Rather, what we see now is something someone on the internet can do.

[QUOTE=MercZ;19672798]The FBI claimed they were using an advanced technology to age Bin Laden's photo. They were bragging about it a lot too. Rather, what we see now is something someone on the internet can do.[/QUOTE] Photoshop is pretty advanced technology. When you think about it.

[QUOTE=Perfumly;19672851]Photoshop is pretty advanced technology. When you think about it.[/QUOTE] [img]http://www.boingboing.net/images/x_2008/iranmissilebogosity.jpg[/img] [img]http://www.littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/pictures/20060805BeirutPhotoshop.jpg[/img]

Oh GOD I laughed.

The face in the 3rd picture looks really trust worthy for some reason

I really doubt Osama is going to look like that in the future. [quote=News]The FBI admitted a forensic artist had obtained certain facial features "from a photograph he found on the internet".[/quote] If they found a different picture, I am pretty sure they are going to make "Future Osama" look like that.

this whole thing is laughably terrible on so many levels. Did the "forensic artist" just GIS "middle-aged man" and pick a result at random?

I heard microsoft were hiring aswell.

Oh shit George Clooney

[quote]A 'Hey guys, check out what I made.' B 'Who the fuck is that?' A 'George Clooney!' A 'But it's for our super photoshop forensic expedition!' B 'You're an idiot, John.' B 'I'm calling Spain.' A ':gonk:' A 'NO!' [/quote] And that's how it happend.

[QUOTE=Docc;19671869]Probably more like this now: [IMG]http://i45.tinypic.com/earv48.jpg[/IMG][/QUOTE] DO NOT COMPARE OUR MR ROYZO TO THAT TERRORIST [img_thumb]a[/img_thumb]

[img]http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/47125000/jpg/_47125377_binladenllamazares466.jpg[/img] What a hunk.

[quote=docc;19671869]probably more like this now: [img]http://i45.tinypic.com/earv48.jpg[/img][/quote] OH SHIT I'VE BEEN FOUND OUT [b]SO lONG, SUCKERS![/b]

The reconstruction they didn't doesn't look anything like Bin Laden.

Or maybe he's just hiding.

[QUOTE=RedSponge;19684886]Or maybe he's just hiding.[/QUOTE] Interesting theory, I concur.

In all honestly I don't see how he thinks that picture looks enough like him to be afraid to show his face. They just took his hair and jaw line...jesus what a baby

[QUOTE=Aaronn;19688174]In all honestly I don't see how he thinks that picture looks enough like him to be afraid to show his face. They just took his hair and jaw line...jesus what a baby[/QUOTE] So it's ok for the FBI to brag about how advanced their tech is, and make it nothing more than over glorified copy-paste? The other thing to consider is why he was even used among all the billion peoples of the Earth. He was one of the most vocal critics of the Iraq war in Spain, and eventually he was one of the politicians who made their country pull out of Iraq. So his name was on an already existing security list. The lazy "expert" just looked up who they had on the list that was the same age as Osama, and then probably did a google image search.

[QUOTE=Devils Buddy;19680219]The face in the 3rd picture looks really trust worthy for some reason[/QUOTE] Well he's a politician.

[QUOTE=MercZ;19688579]So it's ok for the FBI to brag about how advanced their tech is, and make it nothing more than over glorified copy-paste? [/QUOTE] Um did I say that? No. I merely said that his statements of insecurity about showing his face now are completely unfounded because the picture looks nothing like him. Same hair. Lrn2read

[QUOTE=Mister Royzo;19684428]OH SHIT I'VE BEEN FOUND OUT [b]SO lONG, SUCKERS![/b][/QUOTE] Beat you to the joke :smug: