Central European ID document and selfie biometric check providers address growing demand

The number of biometric solutions and initiatives announced by companies and governments keeps on increasing, with a particular push towards smartphone ID documents and face biometrics applications.

IDnow is launching a new solution, iDenfy has formed two new partnerships, Identyum has reached a milestone in its native Croatia, and an Estonia government minister wants facial recognition to secure the country’s remote votes.

IDnow announces AI identity verification solution

Identity verification company IDnow has released a new Artificial Intelligence (AI) identity verification product.

Dubbed AutoIdent Substantial, the platform has been released to address the growing demand for fully digital solutions in healthcare and at a governmental level.

The new solution offers ID document verification, authenticity checks, and liveness detection via biometrics. It also comes with an option for agent review, and one for an Advanced Electronic Signature for contract signing with Trust Service Providers.

To certify the Validity of the new solution, IDnow has submitted AutoIdent Substantial to the EU’s eIDAS Regulation for identification services.

According to Andreas Bodczek, CEO at IDnow, the company would be the first company operating in the U.S. to receive such certification for an AI identity verification product.

“Understanding the industry and the emerging needs of our clients and prospective users, we knew what to do and harnessed our technological and regulatory leadership,” he explained. “This is a game-changing development as the benefits of digital identity verification become available to a much wider range of services.”

iDenfy to bring biometric verification to EshopWedrop customers and Latvian citizens

Lithuanian ID verification company iDenfy has closed two partnerships this week, aimed at bringing biometric verification respectively to the parcel delivery industry and a democratic participation platform.

The first collaboration is between iDenfy and EshopWedrop, a low cost, international parcel delivery solutions provider.

EshopWedrop allows customers to purchase products from the Western European and American markets with affordable delivery charges.

Following the beginning of the partnership, iDenfy will be assisting EshopWedrop with an AI-enabled, biometric identity verification solution.

The system is based on iDenfy’s facial recognition technology, which can match more than 160 face points to prevent presentation detection attacks.

The solution is also capable of verifying 200 types of government-issued IDs from more than 1300 countries.

The second partnership iDenfy closed this week is with MyVoice/ManaBalss.lv, a Latvia-based civic organization developing digital tools for public participation in the decision-making process.

MyVoice users can file petitions to the government, which must be backed by a robust and legally sound identity authentication system, which iDenfy provides to support these efforts.

Previously, the authorization process on MyVoice and other associated platforms, including ParvaiPret.lv and Lemejs.lv, was done via the Latvian iBanks. Now, MyVoice will use iDenfy’s facial recognition tools to fill up the gap between the existing national solutions and citizens abroad and expand the company’s services.

“The partnership with iDenfy enhances the effectiveness of citizens’ digital participation provided by MyVoice, which already is globally unique, and scales it cross-borders,” said MyVoice CEO Imants Breidaks. “We hope that this precedent will encourage also [the] development of digital participation in policy-making processes internationally making them truly inclusive and democratic.”

Identyum celebrates 10,000 users from Croatia

Identyum, a digital identity provider in Croatia, posted on its Linkedin profile last week, announcing a milestone of 10,000 users in the country.

According to their website, the company’s mission is to “decouple people’s digital identity and give them back full control over their identity data, so they can use it whenever and however they choose.”

Identyum also provides business solutions, particularly for customer digital onboarding, authentication, data sharing, and document signing.

The firm’s technology offers a series of identity verification options, including facial recognition, to increase user’s digital credibility.

Other verification options allow users to get verified using their national eID profile, online banking credentials, and social media profiles.

Estonia minister calls for digital voter verification system

Estonia’s IT and foreign trade minister Raul Siem said voter verification should use individuals’ smartphone cameras and replace the current ID-card-based system in order to avoid electoral fraud, ERR News reports.

Siem supported his claims by mentioning the 2019 Riigikogu election, and how nearly half of voters cast their votes electronically.

Moreover, the IT minister also added that, since the technology already exists, it would not be hard to implement on a larger scale, particularly since most modern smartphones now have high-resolution cameras.

“Electronic identification would be done on the same basis, a person would conduct a so-called face recognition action on their computer or phone screen, and this is identified by a person’s document,” Siem said.

The process would be overseen by human operators to ensure its validity.

Looking forward, Siem believes the government should keep working on the new electronic voting system for it to be ready for 2021 when Estonians will go to the polls to decide upon the definition of ‘marriage’ in the country.

“I am extremely optimistic that we will be able to implement this change by the time of the [planned marriage definition] referendum [in spring],” Siem concluded.

Article Topics

biometric liveness detection  |  biometrics  |  digital identity  |  Estonia  |  facial recognition  |  iDenfy  |  identity document  |  identity verification  |  IDnow  |  onboarding  |  selfie biometrics