Biometrics follows twisty policy path towards innovative privacy protections

Innovations in biometrics and digital identity are making their way into daily life, in the form of airport security checks with facial recognition and age verification for restricted content online. But those changes are related to new kinds of IDs, in the form of digital wallets, like those Signicat, SITA, Indicio and iDAKTO are piloting for travel, mDLs like those GET Group demonstrated verification of, and reusable digital identity, for which Jumio, Persona and Sumsub have all introduced solutions. These kinds of ID advancements are increasingly backed by privacy-protecting technologies like those combining biometrics and cryptography.

Policy changes, reusable IDs and biometrics innovation

Biometric entry-exit will finally be live at all U.S. borders and points of entry on Boxing Day with DHS publishing a final rule that removes limits on the number of airports and exemptions for people under 14 and over 79. The move unifies CBP’s facial recognition operations and extends them from “Simplified Arrivals” to all foreigners entering and leaving the country. The security program also aligns with global efforts to allow travelers to use biometrics instead of physical travel documents.

Arun Vemury, director of DHS S&T’s Biometric and Identity Technology Center tells GovCIO’s CyberCast podcast about work on challenges like matching face biometrics of people inside vehicles at border crossings, along with CREDAs and other topics. “Getting people in the driver’s seat of the car is actually a lot easier than getting people, let’s say in the third of a minivan, in the back,” Vemury says.

The latest EUDI Wallet Large-Scale Pilot, Aptitude, brings together Signicat, SITA, Indicio, iDAKTO and others to work on digital travel credentials. The pilot will explore the use of passport-based and reusable DTCs, including for booking flights, train tickets and hotels with a single credential.

GET Group has integrated its universal verifier software with readers from HID to support identity verification with both mobile driver’s licenses and “the higher bar” of Utah’s SEDI. The verifier uses native device biometrics, and GET Group showed off its compatibility with mDLs’ mDOC standard at a recent SEDI event.

Biometrics providers are rushing into the reusable digital identity market, with Jumio launching selfie.DONE for fast onboarding and re-verification with face biometrics. Persona is in too, introducing Connect to help enterprises build data-sharing networks, and Sumsub has partnered with Binance to bring Web2 credentials Web3 applications.

Ping Identity will integrate biometric multi-factor authentication with cryptographic proofs from Keyless after acquiring the Zero-Knowledge Biometrics provider. The deal brings fraud protection strengthened with injection attack detection to enterprise CIAM, workforce and B2B use cases.

The homomorphic encryption technology developed by Mobai for biometric template protection and the Norwegian Data Protection Authority’s report on the software and the problem it addresses were explored in an EAB webinar. Homomorphic encryption like Mobai’s SALT enables centralized biometrics processing without the data security challenges that generally entails.

Age-gating the internet

The age-gating of websites and online platforms is one of the significant shifts affecting consumers around the world. The 2025 Online Age Assurance Market Report & Buyers Guide from Biometric Update and Goode Intelligence forecasts more than 4.5 billion age verification by 2027.

Age assurance requirements are crushing traffic to pornography websites that comply, Aylo says, sounding the alarm. The AVPA notes that some of that drop is accounted for by adults using VPNs, and some is reduced traffic from children, which is the OSA’s point in the first place.

Verifymy COO Andy Lulham says on this past week’s episode of the Biometric Update Podcast that the myth persists that an age check is the same thing as an identity check. He discussed Ofcom’s approach to enforcing the OSA and how much friction is really necessary for age assurance.

Google has introduced age assurance to the Play Store to stay ahead of legislation in multiple American states. The company offers its own API, a variety of age check methods including facial age estimation, and Verifymy provides email-based age inference.

Vape vendor Juul is looking to make a comeback in a huge market with its PodID authentication technology, which uses a third party age verification provider’s technology. A survey from IKE Tech shows support for age verification at the point of use, rather than sale, is strong amongst vapers.

Other top biometrics news of the week

IDverse and ConnectID are among a dozen companies that make up four consortia chosen to participate in Australia’s trial of digital identity and open banking to improve the property rental applications process.

Mali has launched its new biometric passport, and Emptech revealed as the supplier with the contract.

Please let us know in the comments below or through social media if you see any videos, podcasts or other content we should share with those in biometrics and digital identity.

Article Topics

biometrics  |  digital ID  |  digital identity  |  week in review