Biometrics providers navigate risks with proactive care

Face biometrics successes in the travel sector are paving the way for a new way to get through airports around the world, but complications and risk are never far off when biometrics are involved, as seen in Biometric Update’s top articles of the week. Idemia, which is involved in one of the airport biometrics success stories, is joining Congolese officials in looking for clarity around a contract for ID cards, and Laxton is defending itself from what it suggests is a hit piece. Progress toward a new standard is a hopeful development amid the frightening rise of biometric injection attacks, as a CLR Labs representative explains, and Clearview has reached a pair of milestones.

Top biometrics news of the week

Australia’s states and territories have agreed to align their mobile driver’s licenses to the ISO standard as they move towards verifiable credentials. Details continue to emerge about New South Wales’ vision for digital credentials, which includes not just mDLs but 80 different licenses. The state is budgeting millions to the digital wallet the digital licenses will be kept in, the program’s customer service and regulatory work.

The lucrative contract for DR Congo’s biometric national ID cards may be in jeopardy, as Idemia’s Olivier Charlanes tells Biometric Update in an interview that the company is a technology supplier to Afritech for the project, not a consortium partner. Idemia wants to continue with the project, but is more determined to protect its reputation, he says.

Vietnam’s new Identity Law takes effect on July 1, adding iris biometrics to the modalities collected for ID card applications. Thew new law also mandates a centralized national database and the issuance of digital identities for use with government and online services, while banking regulations will require biometric authentication for transactions above a certain threshold.

A guest blog by Thoughtworks representatives for Think Digital Partners explores the value of national digital identities, and their potential as instruments of wide-ranging innovation and improvement in areas like government and social services. The post uses Aadhaar as an example to enumerate the benefits digital identity could have in the UK.

Bloomberg and Lighthouse Reports allege that biometric voter registration has helped Mozambique’s ruling party maintain the veneer of democracy while fixing elections. But Laxton says the report is based on cherry-picked and misrepresented details and opposition accounts that ignores numerous facts that do not fit with its narrative.

Roughly as many facial recognition searches were performed with Clearview AI in the past year as over the previous history of the company, CEO Hoan Ton-That tells Biometric Update. The company is also up to 50 billion facial images in its database, and had appointed three new executives in key roles.

A former AWS employee in the UK claiming whistleblower status says the company has violated its commitment to avoid selling its Rekognition facial recognition service to law enforcement. The company says it did not break its self-imposed moratorium, but unverified documents shared with Biometric Update suggest that Rekognition has been used with multiple UK police systems.

A European standard for biometric injection attacks is racing towards publication, with a vote now underway. Kévin Carta of CLR Labs explained the threat of injection attacks, the different forms they take, and methods for detecting and preventing them in a presentation for the EAB.

The NFL’s Tennessee Titans are using Wicket’s facial recognition for an opt-in service to try to keep 70,000 fans who all want to enter the team’s stadium 15 minutes before the game happy and moving quickly. Official from the team and its biometrics provider discussed how they communicate about the technology with their fans in a Stadium Tech report webinar.

India has introduced a biometric immigration clearance system to fast-track the airport journey for Indians and expat citizens. The FTI-TTP system includes and face and fingerprint biometrics, and is available to travelers through an online application. Digi Yatra is also reaching more airports, and heading for more tourist locations around the country.

One of the early insights gained from the EU’s digital travel credential pilots is that the face biometrics part is easier to get right than the overall infrastructure. The DTC-1 pilot on flights between the Netherlands and Canada was conducted by a consortium including Idemia, and it resulted in a much faster border-crossing process.

Please let us know if you spot any thought leadership pieces, interviews or podcasts that we should share with the people in biometrics and the broader digital identity community in the comments below or through social media.

Article Topics

biometrics  |  digital ID  |  digital identity  |  face biometrics  |  week in review