-
South Africa: Intelleca awarded voice biometrics contract
South African leading network operator awards Intelleca large voice recognition contract; the operator plans to implement the solution across a range of business areas in its contact center
-
-
In the U.K., CCTVs replace security guards
Newcastle-based U.K. Biometric sees 10-fold increase for its CCTV cameras which can be accessed via remote devices; company says building firms are turning to the technology as a cheaper and more efficient replacement to employing overnight security guards
-
-
$250 million TWIC port security project hobbled by lack of biometric readers
What is the use of issuing more than 1 million biometric IDs to truckers, deckhands, and others requiring access to secure areas at sea ports — if there are no reliable biometric readers at the ports to read these cards? Post security project suffers
-
-
U.K. border agency notes first failure since becoming independent
The U.K. Border Agency became an independent government agency on 1 April; the next day, the system it uses to collect fingerprints from foreign visitors and compare them to a large biometric data base, malfunctioned
-
-
Manchester airport recalibrate facial recognition machines to shorten lines
Five facial recognition machines at Manchester airport produced many false negatives, causing long lines of irate passengers; to shorten lines, the machines’ sensitivity was recalibrated from 80 percent to 30 percent; experts say the machines are now useless: tests show that at 30 percent, the machines cannot distinguish between Gordon Brown and Mel Gibson — or between Osama bin Laden and actress Winona Ryder
-
-
U.K. border security agency to exchange fingerprints with U.S. and others
U.K. Border Agency (UKBA) said that by December 2008 it had enrolled more than 3.6 million sets of fingerprints from visa applicants, finding more than 5,200 cases of identity swaps; the agency now wants to exchange fingerprint information with the United States, Canada, and Australia
-
-
U.K. Foreign Office in biometrics spending spree
Foreign and Commonwealth Office earmarks £15 million in biometric gear for embassy security systems
-
-
Sagem Sécurité, Hitachi combine fingerprint and vein recognition technologies
Two leaders in biometric technologies combine their respective technologies — finger prints and vein architecture — in a multimode biometric recognition module
-
-
Sonavation shows world's thinnest fingerprint sensor
Florida-based Sonavation shows innovative — and very small — fingerprint sensor: 35 mm in length by 14.5 mm wide with a thickness of only 0.25 mm; the sensing element alone is only 3 mm in length by 14 mm wide by 0.1 mm thick
-
-
Fingerprint sensor suit heats up
For a year now, two fingerprint technology rivals, AuthenTec and Atrua Technologies, have been locked in a legal battle over patents; last week, and for the second time since the suits were filed, the judge in the case has ruled in favor of AuthenTec
-
-
U.K. Home Office lists early ID vendors
nCipher will be paid about £1.3 million for a contract to provide “public key infrastructure and security related work”; 3M SP&SL will receive about £700,000 plus a fee for each card
-
-
Some in U.K. government wanted compulsory DNA cards
In 2003 and 2004, some civil servants considered — and wrote detailed reports about — including DNA or iris biometrics as well as digital photographs in the ID card scheme and the police wanted carrying the cards to be compulsory
-
-
Aussie students develop new way to visualize fingerprints left on paper
Two University of Technology, Sydney students develop a method which relies on the application of heat to the sample, with the fingerprint development accomplished in a matter of seconds
-
-
Air France begins trial of biometric boarding cards
Air France begins trials with biometric cards as a replacement for boarding passes; the RFID-equipped cards store the passenger’s fingerprints and may be re-used up to 500 times
-
-
U.K. government flags ID cost increase
The U.K. government says that passports will account for a smaller proportion of the cost of the national identity scheme’s overall cost than previously stated; introducing and producing passports containing fingerprints will cost about 70 percent of the £4.785 million budget for the National Identity Scheme for U.K. nationals
-