This week in biometrics and identification technology

Aviation security featured prominently among the headlines in the biometrics industry this week, with new pilots rolling out at airports in Russia and India just as Australia pauses its trial of Vision-Box facial recognition technology for reasons that remain unclear. Vision-Box is also in the news with the launch of its biometric boarding technology by Norwegian Air at LAX.

Around the industry, a legal battle has erupted, with Goodix suing Egis Technology for alleged infringement of its patented in-display fingerprint technology, while Fujitsu has launched a new line of palm vein recognition solutions.

Online dating could be an area that benefits from biometric identity verification, which could prevent online dating scams and worse, Jumio VP of Product Management Reinhard Hochrieser argues in Information Security Buzz. In an interview with PYMNTS, Trulioo General Manager Zac Cohen discusses how the adoption of mobile transactions and biometrics will play out differently in various jurisdictions.

Biometric payment cards were also in the news, with financial services technology company SIA opening a new production facility in Italy to accommodate production of fingerprint-enabled cards and other advanced payment technologies. Several leading European banks have significant ownerships stake in SIA. Fingerprint Cards meanwhile announced a collaboration with existing partners Giesecke + Devrient Mobile Security to bring contactless biometric payment cards to market.

Public debates around facial recognition uses by law enforcement in the UK and Australia continued, with arguments for and against different deployments, while an Israeli camera system with facial recognition deployed to the West Bank seems sure to add fuel to an already-heated argument.

The perspective of Blink Identity CEO Mary Haskett seems pertinent for the industry side of that argument, and it is captured in an interview with Business Cloud. Haskett says some people aren’t really paying attention, which certainly seems to apply to multiple parties in the FaceApp controversy that culminated in a call for a U.S. federal investigation this week, as reported by Gizmodo. An editorial in The Hill by researchers from the Center on Terrorism, Extremism and Counterterrorism (CTEC) warns law enforcement not to bolster support for total bans on their use of facial recognition by resisting any limitations.

Facebook may have the world’s largest dataset for facial recognition, and Slate looks at how that may play into the company’s identity verification ambitions.

From our new ID for All section, an interview with Robert Mugo, architect of Kenya’s major national biometric ID initiative, Huduma Namba, and a wrap of stories touching on self-reliance, politics, and counter-terrorism. Also this week, a blog post from ID4Africa Executive Chairman summarizes the striking mass discussion that concluded this year’s conference.

A blog post from the American Enterprise Institute this week pitched global financial inclusion, and therefore by extension digital identity, as the next big challenge for the world’s tech disruptors. ZDNet reviews Visa’s vision of a password-free future, which the company believes the payments industry can achieve within five years with advances in biometrics and artificial intelligence. The article includes insight from Visa Head of Product Axel Boye-Moller.

Ethical technology consultant Linda Raftree (of MERL Tech fame) and freelance digital identity adviser Karl Steinacker share their expert views on the use of biometrics in aid delivery in a fascinating piece by the The New Humanitarian. ID PASS, featured in a Biometric Update interview this week, adds a biometric identity layer to humanitarian and related service delivery platforms.

The Bank of England has announced that computing and artificial intelligence pioneer Alan Turing will be featured on the new £50 note, which recognition as The Telegraph reports marks a major turnaround for the British government. Turing was pardoned in 2009 for a 1953 gross indecency conviction for homosexuality. The new notes are expected to reach circulation by the end of 2021.

Article Topics

Anyvision  |  artificial intelligence  |  biometrics  |  Blink Identity  |  digital identity  |  Egis Technology  |  Fingerprint Cards  |  Fujitsu  |  Giesecke+Devrient  |  Goodix  |  Huduma Namba  |  ID PASS  |  Jumio  |  Security Industry Association (SIA)  |  Trulioo  |  Visa  |  Vision-Box