• Adding biometrics to E-Verify would reduce illegal immigration

    A new white paper argues that adding biometric technology to E-Verify would bolster DHS’s legal employment verification system; the paper author, former senior FBI official, says that better verification of employment credentials would significantly reduce the flow of illegal immigrants because it will make that much harder for illegals to find a job

  • Will facial recognition biometrics come of age in 2011?

    Face recognition biometrics has been around since the mid-1960s, but is yet to develop a strong market presence; recent tests of the technology in conjunction with CCTV — in Birmingham and London in the U.K., and in Tampa, Florida and Logan Airport in the U.S.— were disappointing; still, Chris Routledge, managing director of U.K. Time Solutions Ltd, argues that facial recognition biometrics will come of age in 2011

  • Rhode Island prison deploys new inmate eye scanners

    This summer a Rhode Island prison inmate was able to walk out of prison by posing as another inmate who was up for parole; the state Department of Corrections has deployed an eye scanner in the prison that checks inmates’ eyes to ensure identity

  • Doubts cast on fingerprint security for online banking

    A new fingerprint security system could offer an alternative to remembering multiple online account passwords; some argue, however, that such a system is open to error and would face opposition in developed countries where it is seen as socially unacceptable

  • China developed gait biometrics device to identify passers-by covertly

    Chinese scientists have developed a unique biometrics device, probably for the military, which uses a person’s pace to identify them covertly, according to a confidential U.S. cable leaked by WikiLeaks; the device can be covertly installed in a floor or sidewalk and is able to collect biometrics data on individuals covertly without their knowledge

  • U.K. government drops voice biometrics as anti-fraud tool

    The U.K. Department of Work & Pensions (DWP) has to contend with fraud on a massive scale — fraudulent claims are estimated at 5.2 billion Pounds (or 2.1 percent of all expenditure) a year; since 2007, DWP has spent 2.4 million Pounds on testing voice biometrics as an anti-fraud tool, but has now abandoned the trial

  • Eye-movement biometrics holds promise, but skeptics want to see more

    Each of us has a unique pattern of eye movements; an Israeli company says its eye-movement biometric system exploits this fact for a simple, hard-to-fool approach; the system tracks the way a person’s eye moves as they watch an icon roaming around a computer screen; the way the icon moves can be different every time, but the user’s eye movements include “kinetic features” — slight variations in trajectory — which are unique, making it possible to identify him; the system can also be used as a lie detector, or a drug and alcohol test

  • Biometrics revenues to reach 8.9 billion Pounds by 2015

    Worldwide revenue from biometric technology is set to treble in the coming years, reaching 8.9 billion Pounds in 2015; as well as the usual access control uses of biometrics, corporations are beginning to utilize the technology to protect their data

  • Manchester Airport biometric gate unilaterally imprisons traveler

    Manchester Airport has been testing biometric gates in one of its terminals; the gates work by scanning the passenger’s face using a camera and matching this to the image stored on the passport; if there is a match, the gates open and the passenger is allowed through, removing the need to speak to an immigration officer; the watchdog for the U.K. Border Agency says, however, that the facial recognition checks at Manchester Airport are being undermined by unreliable IT

  • Salmat offers voice biometrics to mid-market

    A 2009 Identity Verification Study conducted by callcenters.net highlighted that the most preferred method of verifying identity among consumers was biometric voice identification; Aussie company Salmat has launched a suite of speech recognition and voice biometric solutions designed specifically for mid-market companies

  • Suprema to provides palm-print scanners to Poland, Lithuania

    Korean company Suprema win contracts to equip the Polish and Lithuanian police forces with palm-print live scanners; the contracts are part of EU-funded effort to upgrade the two countries’ criminal identification methods so these methods could be integrated with the European Union’s Schengen Visa Information System (VIS) project

  • Manchester Airport conducts distance biometrics trial

    Manchester Airport begins a 2-week trial of a system which can recognize an individual’s iris while they walk around; the system might allow international transfer passengers to mix with domestic passengers in a departure lounge because they can be securely identified before boarding their flight

  • NYPD begins iris scanning of crime suspects

    The New York Police Department bought 21 iris scanning systems for $24,000 each; the scanners are used to take photographs of the irises of crime suspects along with their fingerprints and mug shots

  • New biometric system harder to fool than other approaches

    Each of us has a unique pattern of eye movements; an Israeli company developed a new biometric security system which exploits this for a simple, hard-to-fool approach; the system tracks the way a person’s eye moves as he watches an icon roam around a computer screen; the way the icon moves can be different every time, but the user’s eye movements include “kinetic features” — slight variations in trajectory — which are unique, making it possible to identify him

  • U.S. State Department interested in iris recognitions

    U.S. Department of State official says he is interested in examining deployment of iris recognition as part of the department’s biometric requirements for future e-documents; the official said the chief reasons for preferring iris biometrics was its high accuracy with a small footprint when compared to other more widely used biometric technology like face recognition