FBI uses Internet photo of Spanish lawmaker to create aged Osama Bin Laden photo

This is why the FBI needs such a big budget -- browsing the Web for a guy who looks like Osama Bin Laden, but older, doesn't come cheap, folks.

In a statement Saturday, the agency would say only that it was aware of similarities between their age-progressed image "and that of an existing photograph of a Spanish public official [Gaspar Llamazares]."

"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 FBI said in a statement to the Associated Press.

Spanish lawmaker used in updated bin Laden photo

• [Chuck]

  At this point wouldn’t it just be easier to go back and accuse Gaspar Llamazares of attacking us on 9/11?

  “Does somebody know how to use this ‘find and replace’ function in Microsoft Word?”

• [sopekmir]

  This is shocking. How we could trust they would ever capture any terrorist, if such methods are in use !?

  For generations, all security agences used pencil sketches to represent the wanted whose photo was unavailable – it was clear to do so in this case: “forensic artist was unable to find suitable features among the reference photographs”

  The other story is that the photograph on the right up here is already a transformation of Gaspar Llamazares, not of his original face. See: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8463657.stm

  So, while it IS outrageous – we should not make it more outrageous than it realy is (kind note to Mark :-) )

  • [weatherman]

    The other other story is that Gaspar’s original face is also already a composite of someone else’s face.

• [Hagrid]

  I still think Osama Bin Laden died years ago. This is like those creepy Orville Redenbacher commercials, except now they’re using digital body “parts” to keep him alive in the public’s mind.

• [gollux]

  Welcome to defamation of character in the interests of “National Security”. You too could be starring on America’s FBI Most Wanted list just ’cause you look like someone and the Google Images search engine optimization lottery allows some “Federal Bureau of Ineptitude” flatfoot with Photoshop to forever smear your reputation.

• [Anonymous]

  It’s not only a lawmaker..it’s a politician called Gaspar Llamazares…

• [gollux]

  Shot from Reuters

• [Anonymous]

  So if you guys actually had something like the ’3-strike’ law like they were planning in France (HADOPI) in the U.S., and considering the fact they used the same photo for not only one, but two terror suspect mock-ups already, the FBI would only need to lift one more pic off Google (or whereever) to get disconnected from the internets?

  Sweet!

• [Altinkum]

  That poor spanish man. Why has he allowed his photo to be released?

• [billstewart]

  I hate to say it, but some of the obvious remedies include

  • A DMCA takedown notice against anywhere the FBI is showing the picture
  • A UK libel lawsuit (there has to be *some* half-plausible UK connection.)
  • Berne Convention moral-rights copyright suit.

  Just because those things are primarily bad doesn’t mean they’re not occasionally useful.

• [wobblesthegoose]

  This might be a little CSI for reality, but wouldn’t it be neat if the FBI had facial recognition software that they just constantly were running to search Google Image for a new picture of Bin Laden. I mean, it’s not like they’ve got some guy sitting at a computer looking for pictures that might be similar to bin Laden. But man, someone uploads a scene from a market in Pakastan and the computer happens to pick up bin Laden? That’d be futuristic.

  • [Michael Smith]

    #23,

    …and the face recognition system is connected to the UAV+missile system so the market in Pakistan gets blown away 25 seconds later.

    Better send that idea to either William Gibson or Randall Munroe. Best not to send it to the CIA because they might do it.

• [Anonymous]

  This reminds me of what happened in Holland a few years ago, when controversial politician Geert Wilders released his anti-Islam film Fitna. He claimed to show images of the murderer of Dutch film maker Theo van Gogh, but he had taken them of the internet without checking sources. The images were, in fact, of a Dutch rapper who happened to also have a beard. Way to improve your credibility;)

• [Anonymous]

  I think Gaspar and Osama both have grounds for a lawsuit. Even without the controvesial sourcing, the results look proportionally sloppy in places. Much technique but fumbled basics.

• [Anonymous]

  Cool, since we know who and where this guy is, can’t we just kidnap him, take him to wherever we think OBL is now, shoot him while “appprehending” him, and call the “War on Terror” over?

• [benher]

  It’s getting harder and harder for artists to hide their references! Danged Internets!

• [Anonymous]

  He’s not just a random lawmaker, he’s a very well known politician, everybody knows who’s this guy here in Spain.

  Furthermore, it’s not the first time they use his hair from that picture for the Spanish elections. They used it in the past featuring another al-queda terrorist. Weirdest thing ever, the guy must be freaking out.

• [Orion Salvaje]

  Is not only hair, also the forehead, as you can see in the wrinkle from side to side. (better photograph).

  They are still using the hair (no forehead) in this other suspect.

  Maybe the forensic artist also in this case now “was unable to find suitable features among the reference photographs”, and yet again Llamazares’ hair was just right. What an universal hair he has! suitable for late 50′s and for late 30′s.

• [Brainspore]

  I gotta agree this isn’t as big a deal as the post makes out, the original photo of Mr. Llamazares doesn’t look much like Bin Laden. Matching the hair was a good catch by some web sleuth though.

• [teapot]

  I gotta agree this isn’t as big a deal as the post makes out, the original photo of Mr. Llamazares doesn’t look much like Bin Laden.

  So, while it IS outrageous – we should not make it more outrageous than it realy is (kind note to Mark :-) )

  The picture in the post is somewhat misleading, but the BBC one is linked so I dont see the problem. I think you guys are missing the point that a photo of this guy’s likeness was used without his permission – TWICE!

  It doesn’t matter if the primary identifying features such as nose, eyes & mouth were not used – facial recognition tech uses a variety of methods to make a match. Head shape is one of them. While I agree that the use of his hair will most probably not cause him any trouble, the fact remains that it is his hair – and he has the right to approve/disapprove of its various uses. I’m sure if it were your hair brainy, you wouldn’t be so indifferent.

  Rest assured if I was to photoshop a celeb’s hair onto someone else, the lawyers would come knocking – particularly if I had lifted said photo from an AP shitrag.

• [Anonymous]

  That poor guy should just turn himself in to the TSA right now. He could probably do time just for saying airplane.

• [EscapingTheTrunk]

  So, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children can age Tracee Dugard to pinpoint accuracy using photos of her family, but the FBI can’t do the same with bin Laden?

• [Anonymous]

  even forgetting that they used this poor guy’s face (with his mismatched eyebrows, no less), this is one of the worst photoshop jobs i’ve ever seen. the lighting on the turban is totally wrong. i could have done a better job when i was 18.

• [johnofjack]

  How exactly does one search the internet for photos of someone who looks like someone else? I’m not getting such good results at Google Images with “someone who looks like bin Laden.”

• [Baldhead]

  I was alll set to be WTF but they only borrowed the hair. Seriously that’s pretty meh if you ask me.

• [Anonymous]

  man, seems like that lawmaker’s life is going to get pretty crappy.

• [RioMcT]

  I’m sure if they had budget money to waste they might have gotten a photo from some stock photo agency but as it seems like a prudent use of funds.

• [Anonymous]

  I don’t know what’s a bigger FBI art fail, this or that unabomber sketch that looked nothing like the unabomber.

• [Antinous / Moderator]

  I understand that they used a leftover piece of Demi Moore’s hip for the full-length photo.

• [Antinous / Moderator]

  BBC article with the original photo. The hair gives it away.

• [hobomike]

  I can provide pretty good guesstimates for…$100/hr (Patriot discount)

• [Anonymous]

  Is not infringements of teh copyrights?

• [Matt Eric]

  My goodness, it’s almost hard to believe we haven’t caught him yet.

• [lewis stoole]

  if you do a search for the guy, you will see that he looks nothing like the osama bin laden photos and that all that was used was the hair. the hair was cut and pasted with the style, wave, and color–nothing else from the image was used.
  assuming i found the correct picture, this is it:
  xxxp://www.cepes.es/media/fotos/Gaspar_Llamazares.jpg

• [Lobster]

  “In part?” He added a turban and a beard!

  • [knijon]

    Just to be clear (and as Antinous noted), the 3 photos above do not include the picture of the Spanish MP. But yeah, good luck traveling abroad Gaspar.

• [Anonymous]

  I cant understand how he managed to get an anti-tan.

• [InsertFingerHere]

  I wish there was someone in the FBI taking notice of these incidents. It makes the institution look bad.

  Years ago I added a shout-out to my GF during a credit roll for a local event, there were pages and pages of credits, they all went by so fast, yet some friggen VP of programming spotted it and I got kicked off the mobile crew for 6 months. Today and an employer myself, I don’t think I would put up with that shit either.

• [gabrielm]

  Is he wearing a Hawaiian shirt in the middle one?

• [Anonymous]

  I looked at these photos and the one done by the forensic artists looks kind of like the guy on YouTube who does all the informative Wet Shaving videos >> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qSIP6uQ3EI

• [lewis stoole]

  actually, after seeing the post with the bbc photo comparison, there seems to be some similarities in the eyes and nose as well.

• [Anonymous]

  the only body reference that exists from the original image in the above photos is the hair. THE HAIR, that is all (besides the collar of the shirt). the nose, the ears, the chin, even the facial hair, they are all different.

  this isn’t a big deal. better they get an image of what he might look like “clean cut” than run around showing ONLY turban-and-beard photos for eternity. if they kept on using that single dated look for him, then i think that would be the bigger transgression — the public would not collectively step their alert beyond that.

  this, as far as i am concerned, is not an issue worthy of departmental ridicule. a memo to be careful? yes. public ridicule? no.

• [Bucket]

  I’m not generally a conspiracy-minded person, but I feel that I must point out that the yellow background behind the original picture of Bin Laden (the one on the left) appears to be identical to the yellow background behind Bozo the Clown in the post immediately below this one.

  • [Chuck]

    >I’m not generally a conspiracy-minded person, but I feel that I must point out that the yellow background behind the original picture of Bin Laden (the one on the left) appears to be identical to the yellow background behind Bozo the Clown in the post immediately below this one.

    The voices in my head are insisting that’s Pennywise the Clown.

    But, of course, that can’t possibly be right.

    “I swear a saw that clown disappear down a manhole right before the first plane hit.”