Biometrics investors pursue scale, sustainability balance

Budgets for biometrics and government digital ID programs made up the main theme of the most-read news items on Biometric Update this week. Funds America’s TSA needs to roll out its airport biometrics are being diverted, an intelligence agency is considering investing in a research partnership, and Socure is even more heavily involved in the GSA’s pilot of biometrics for Login.gov than previously reported. The EU is investing in digital transformation, including digital wallets, an area Google has big plans for. Ethiopia is bringing in help to set itself up for sound financial management, and IDScan.net has a revenue estimate for the mDL program Wyoming is moving towards. Elsewhere in the market, Pindrop has a line on $100 million to scale its voice biometrics and deepfake detection customer base.

Top biometrics news of the week

Lawmakers and former officials blame the consistent diversion of funds collected by the TSA from the Passenger Security Fee for drawing out the upgrade to biometric security checks at American airports. At current spending rates, it could take until 2049 to upgrade to CAT-2s (supplied by Idemia) across the nation.

A pilot introducing selfie biometrics to Login.gov as part of an upgrade to IAL2 has resulted in its integration by the U.S. Social Security Administration, and 5 million people have created accounts already. Socure has been revealed as a partner to one of the pilot participants, Celerity, contributing its face biometrics and identity verification capabilities.

A U.S. intelligence agency is looking into collaboration with partners in academia to research the use of biometrics, digital identity and other data in counterterrorism and counterintelligence activities. USSOCOM could potentially commit hundreds of millions of dollars over five years to glean as much as possible from battlefield evidence, or “Collected Exploitable Material.”

A pair of Labour members of the House of Lords have joined the chorus calling for the new government to consider bringing a national digital ID scheme to the UK. It probably won’t involve cards, there may not be any national database and a proposal may not come until the fall, or later, but Lord Blunkett says something is inevitable.

A significant portion of the €108 million the EU has budgeted for its Digital Europe Programme is expected to go towards digital identity-related projects. They include cross-border interoperability for EU Digital Identity Wallets and eIDAS implementation. On the latter front, all but four member states have pre-notified one or more national eID means.

Money will not be allocated to a public outreach on digital ID in Germany, heise online reports (in German). Adoption is only 22 percent so far, but the government is prioritizing a public communication campaign around the risks of using marijuana, which has been partially legalized.

The AI Act is set to come into force on August 1, 2024, with full application to artificial intelligence developers in the EU on August 2, 2026. The Act’s rollout schedule also includes a prohibition deadline for “unacceptable risk,” which includes collection of biometric identifiers in public without consent or emergency authorization, of February 2 of next year.

Allegations that officials with Malta’s identity authority have facilitated the issuance of as many as 18,000 fraudulent digital ID cards are flying. Identita denies the fake IDs were issued, and a lawsuit against a former lawmaker has been promised, but with whistleblower status reportedly denied to witnesses, the truth may prove elusive.

Wyoming’s work towards the introduction of mobile driver’s licenses appears to be quietly progressing, with a state transportation department official suggesting when launched, as early as next year, they will support ZKP and limited disclosure. IDScan.net has calculated Wyoming could bring in $640,000 a year in revenue from mDLs.

Ethiopia is hiring a consultant on a year-long contract to help set up the financial operations for its national digital ID system, Fayda. The role involves supporting NIDP’s budgeting and planning, audits, controls and analysis to make an inclusive system sustainable.

A pair of digital rights advocates tell Biometric Update that Nigeria’s government must do more to protect people’s digital identity data. Khadijah El-Usman of Paradigm Initiative and Digital Rights Lawyer Solomon Okedara suggest that NIMC needs to take more responsibility for recent problems, but data protection policies that can help are already in place, if they are adequately enforced.

A software teardown shows Google Wallet’s direction for general support of all kinds of ID documents and other credentials. The next version update is expected to introduce automatic recognition, scanning and storage for a wide range of documents, along with a manual entry option for those it can’t identify.

Pindrop has raised $100 million in debt financing, and CEO Vijay Balasubramanian tells Biometric Update that the timing is right to scale on credit. Voice deepfake attacks are surging, and customers already using Pindrop’s voice biometrics and liveness are signing up in droves for an additional layer of protection against them.

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Article Topics

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