Biometric hardware, ID documents and processes to ease travel advance
Biometrics for travel, by air land or sea, are a theme among several of the most-read stories on Biometric Update over the past week. Idemia has launched updates for two of its biometric devices for travel applications, while HID Global and Veridos have each won contracts for identity documents intended for use in travel. As an Entrust executive writes, those documents may soon be used more as a ground truth than at checkpoints. Cyberlink, meanwhile, writes about the prospects of consumer comfort with using biometrics, and also contributes facial recognition to a robot for the consumer market.
Top biometrics news of the week
Schengen Information System has gone live, as the biometric and biographic data-sharing mechanism for what the EC says will be “the most advanced border management system in the world.” Cyprus is adopting the system, while the UK is launching an electronic travel authorization utilizing biometrics.
Passports are about to fade away, Entrust Director of Business Development and Strategic Alliances for Identity Verification Jon Payne writes in a guest post, replaced by digital travel credentials and biometrics. Payne recounts how we got here, and how new systems can get travellers through the same airport processes in a fraction of the time.
HID Global has won a contract in Bahrain for end-to-end delivery of biometric passports for an undisclosed amount. Veridos will produce biometric ID cards for Guyana which are also intended for use as travel documents, and therefore align with ICAO standards. In a related development, Veridos also added Java support to its software for smartcards.
Idemia has launched new versions of a pair of its biometric devices for deployment at airports and other border crossings. The company says the multimodal OneLook Gen2 provides superior image quality and faster walk-through capture than the previous version, while the MorphoWave TP expands the contactless fingerprint line with an option for simultaneous ten-print capture.
A step was taken towards starting a long-rumored sale process for Idemia, reportedly, with Goldman Sachs preparing $2.7 billion in debt financing through high-yield bonds and leveraged loans. Thales is joined the pool of floated buyers by Apollo Global Management and Brookfield Asset Management.
The IRS is planning to implement the U.S. government’s Login.gov identity verification service for online account access, as the April 30 deadline approaches for Americans to file their tax returns. A former UK GDS executive says struggling with horizontal digital transformation is common to governments in countries without national ID systems.
Fights over facial recognition in New York City are getting worse, and spreading. MSGE’s denial of entry to some visitors using facial recognition may contravene state liquor laws, according to regulators. The city is trying to get a handle on what businesses are using facial recognition and how. Businesses are apparently either not widely using it, or are not widely complying with an ordinance requiring public notice of its use.
CyberLink FaceMe VP of Business Development Terry Schulenburg writes in a guest post that the attention-grabbing ChatGPT gives consumers who may be hesitant to trust AI technologies like biometrics a new appreciation for their benefits. Soon, ChatGPT will help people with “mundane, everyday tasks,” Schulenburg writes, and also support new facial recognition applications.
CyberLink has partnered with robot-maker Groove X to develop the Lovot, a “companion” for families that can identify them with facial recognition. Lovot’s design makes use of CyberLink’s capability for recognition at steep angles. Hardware stores in Philadelphia, meanwhile, are testing less cuddly robots out as parking lot security guards.
An evaluation of the accuracy of Tech5’s contactless fingerprint technology was developed and performed by BixeLab, demonstrating its fitness for some applications, and room for improvement. Representatives of both organizations joined Biometric Update to talk about the implications of the assessment.
Somalia is launching a new, card-based national ID program, following legislative approval. Biometric ID cards issued by Slovenia and the UAE have jointly won a regional award, while misprints and fake ID rings have been reported in Hawaii and Thailand, respectively.
Bill Gates supports MOSIP through the foundation operated by he and his ex-wife, and attended the group’s facilities in Bangalore to get a progress update and talk about how digital identity can improve financial inclusion. The discussion covered the ecosystem of biometrics providers and system integrators, and MOSIPs roadmap going forward.
Cornelius Williams, outgoing global director for child protection at UNICEF, joined the ID16.9 podcast to discuss progress and innovations in legal ID issuance. Williams explains how some African nations are twining health and education agencies with civil registration authorities to reach scale registrations efficiently, and how governments are learning from each other to achieve identification goals, which have risen among priorities.
Please let us know about any articles, podcasts or other content we should share with the people working in biometrics and the broader digital identity community in the comments below, or through social media.
