Immigration, age checks and deepfakes push biometrics into the spotlight

Biometrics are now central to some of the hottest news stories not just in the identity sector, but all around the world. Immigration enforcement has gone from a use case to a flashpoint in the U.S. A drumbeat of household brand names like TikTok, ChatGPT and Minecraft are introducing age assurance to the broader public. And another company has been duped out of millions of dollars with deepfakes.

The attention comes with market opportunity, but so does increased scrutiny.

Immigration

The logic behind America’s overhauled approach to immigration enforcement is supplied by data-driven predictions about places, where biometrics collected from the people found can be used to determine their identity, and therefore status. The automated, probability-based decision-making system does not appear to include review or redress mechanisms.

TSA’s proposed amendments to the data collection process for its PreCheck program will formalize inclusion of the agency’s new digital IDs, its alternative identity verification service for those without REAL ID, and its centralized Customer Service Portal. Data collected by TSA is also being used for ICE enforcement operations, its acting director confirmed in a House Committee hearing this week.

The budget allocation for DHS biometrics is rising, accordingly, with Congress setting aside $271 million for OBIM, including $25 million specifically for its HART database. The appropriations agreement also builds in transparency requirements and mandates a USCIS feasibility study around collecting biometrics at certain CBP locations.

National ID

A DGS review finds GOV.UK One Login is well-positioned for a key role in public service delivery, particularly with private testing of a mobile driver’s license now underway ahead of a production rollout later this year. The details of how DIATF-certified service providers will interact with the mDL and the One Login app will have to be worked out along the way.

A subsidiary of Margins ID Group will make The Gambia’s national identity cards and upgrade the country’s ID infrastructure. Gambians hope the build, co-operate, transfer contract ends a long period of little progress on their national ID.

Online age checks

Minecraft has begun rolling out age verification using Yoti’s biometrics in the UK ahead of gating the platform’s social features in February. Discord is using k-ID for Australia, and running an experiment with Persona in the UK. Roblox’ implementation of Persona’s facial age estimation, meanwhile, is taking criticism for alleged susceptibility to spoofs.

TikTok is rolling out Yoti’s facial age estimation across Europe, and Privately counts 40 countries regulating or considering restricting social media based on age.

ChatGPT is introducing what OpenAI calls “age prediction,” which sounds like “age inference” but without referring to anything established. Persona’s selfie biometrics-based age verification is the fallback here.

Deepfake fraud

A Swiss company is the latest victim of a headline-grabbing deepfake fraud incident. The company lost millions in a series of spoof calls. Pindrop claims it is having success in the battle against voice deepfakes.

Group-IB blames the Deepfake-as-a-Service industry for the industrial-scale fraud attacks against businesses around the world. Biometric injection attacks involve sophisticated technologies and techniques, but can be pulled off by relative dunces in huge volumes as the data and code are hawked on the dark web.

Crime prevention vs surveillance fears

Murders are down in London, and the Met Police says its use of live facial recognition is one of the reasons why. Police across England are reporting success with LFR, and permanent (rather than mobile) deployments are seen as particularly effective.

Meanwhile, behind the scenes:

The second OFIQ user group meeting, convened by the EAB, BSI and eu-LISA, was split between a dive into recent updates to the biometric image quality tool, and a preview of the forthcoming version 2.0. The first public signs of eu-LISA integrating OFIQ with its operations have appeared along the way.

Goode Intelligence has released a report on the biometric physical access control market, exploring the momentum in biometrics adoption as a second factor and other growth drivers. Goode projects the segment to represent an opportunity beyond $16 billion by 2031.

This week on The Trust Files, Billions Network CEO and co-founder Evin McMullen warns that the window to save the internet’s reputation is closing and Vidos ID co-founder Tim Boeckmann discusses the future of an open and interoperable digital ID ecosystem.

Microblink CEO Hartley Thompson joined the Biometric Update Podcast to discuss the company’s shift from document capture to the larger picture of trusted identity, as generative AI keeps making it harder to tell what’s real from what’s a deepfake.

Please let us know if you come across any podcasts, video presentations or other content you think we should share with those in biometrics and the digital identity community, either in the comments below or through social media.

Article Topics

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