Age verification integrations span from brick-and-mortar retail to bikeshare apps

Fujitsu facial scanners will be used to perform age verification in UK supermarkets, despite the company’s involvement in a major IT accounting scandal that saw hundreds of UK Post Office employees wrongly prosecuted for financial shortfalls caused by its point-of-sale system. The move illustrates the pervasive mood in the age verification space, in which new AI-powered biometric digital identity tools from Liquid, Bouncer Digital and ITL are driving implementation across industries and use cases, even as risks persist.

With government contracts on hold, Fujitsu offers age-checks for shopping

Fujitsu, one of Japan’s largest IT and telecom companies, will supply face scanning hardware for PoS age checks at UK supermarkets, according to a report from The Telegraph. The UK’s age verification scheme has approved the system as being 99.9 percent accurate at recognizing that an 18-year-old is under age 25, which triggers a request for proof of age when buying alcohol and other restricted products. Although legislators are considering tweaks to law which would allow AI and biometrics to be used in age verification, for now the rules still require a person to confirm a customer’s age.

Fujitsu says its supermarket system is instant and has been built to resist spoofing tactics. It also notes that the technology “has been developed with AI ethics in mind; it is not capable of identifying an individual and does not make use of biometric data or facial recognition technology”.

The explicit statement on ethics comes as the company faces fresh questions about its role in providing faulty accounting software to the UK post office, which resulted in the prosecution of more than 700 sub-postmasters between 1999 and 2015 for theft that never happened. A TV dramatization of the so-called UK Post Office scandal has re-ignited public ire and brought new allegations to light.

The Guardian this week reported that the UK has dismissed the chair of the Post Office over the scandal, which Prime Minister Rishi Sunak calls“one of the greatest miscarriages of justice in our nation’s history.” His dismissal comes hot on the heels of the resignation of Fujitsu UK head Michael Keegan. Fujitsu executives have acknowledged responsibility for the company’s role in the scandal and promised not to bid for any more government contracts until an inquiry into the matter is complete.

Liquid biometrics ensure riders of shared electric bikes are over 16

Tokyo-based know your customer (KYC) and selfie biometrics vendor Liquid Inc. will provide online identity and age verification for the Japanese shared cycling platform Hello Cycling’s electric bikes. A release says the AI-based Liquid eKYC product will instantly and automatically verify the age of riders checking out certain small motorized electric bicycles. The system pairs selfie-to-registered ID biometric matching with optical character recognition, and is compatible with foreign passports.

Hello Cycling is owned by OpenStreet Co., Ltd. and currently boasts 7,400 stations nationwide. Its e-bike sharing service launches this week, to offer specified small mopeds to drivers over 16 years of age. Liquid, which offers digital ID, KYC and authentication services, is also expanding, aiming to springboard on its success under tight Japanese laws to develop trusted global partnerships.

Bouncer Digital and ITL showcase new age verification tools

In Spain, Bouncer Digital is offering an app that uses biometrics and AI for age verification to prevent minors from accessing pornographic content. A company release cites the EU’s new Online Safety and Digital Services Act (DSA) as an example of the regulatory push for policy that can protect kids from content that could be harmful or traumatizing for them to see. Bouncer Digital’s app also performs biometric age verification by comparing a selfie to a registered ID document, which can be one of 1,500 official documents from 250 countries and territories in 138 languages.

“We are facing a major problem that puts minors at risk and that continues to worsen year after year due to the lack of restrictions on content for adults,” says Jorge Bardón, CEO of Bouncer Digital. “Solutions like ours have already allowed many companies in these sectors to anticipate regulation and their users to have a secure ecosystem for their personal data.”

Meanwhile, at the National Retail Federation’s annual NRF conference in New York, Innovative Technology (ITL) Americas garnered interest for its ICU Lite tools for age checks at self-service lanes or assisted checkouts.

In a release, ITL’s Business Development Manager for North America Brian Bellerose calls ICU Lite “a completely offline solution” that “gives immediate results,” and points out that it also uses facial analysis to generate tailored advertising.

Article Topics

age verification  |  biometrics  |  Bouncer Digital  |  digital identity  |  Fujitsu  |  Innovative Technology  |  Liquid Inc  |  retail biometrics  |  social media