Biometric technologies

U.K. can lead the world on biometrics
New study argues that the U.K. biometrics industry can lead the world if it were less fragmented and had an independent voice
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Unisys study shows U.S. public trusts biometrics for data protection
Privacy advocates may be worried about the proliferation of biometrics for identification purposes, but a recent Unisys survey shows that Americans are comfortable with the idea of banks and government agencies asking them for biometric data for identity verification
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Dominican Republic enacts sweeping biometric data measure
Citing concerns about crime and public safety, the Dominican republic enacts sweeping biometric data requirements; as of January 2009, anyone who has not supplied their biometric data will not be able to make any banking transactions or get a firearms permit
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Briefly noted
IT to get more attention in approval process for political appointees… More U.S. hospitals turn to palm biometircs for patient identification
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Making facial recognition technology more effective
Facial recognition technology holds the promise of identifying individuals in a crowd — and from distance; in real-world environments, however, the task becomes difficult, if not impossible, when the systems acquire poor facial images; NIST researchers offer a solution
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U.K. passports costs rise by 39 percent to pay for biometrics
Fingerprinting and facial scanning are costly procedures, and the Home Office attempts to recoup the cost of adding biometric data onto the document
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Fingerprint "developer" can read a letter from its envelope
U.K. researchers find that disulfur dinitride polymer turned exposed fingerprints brown, as the polymer reaction was initiated from the near-undetectable remaining residues; what is more, traces of inkjet printer ink can also initiate the polymer, allowing detectives to read a letter from the residue it left on the envelope
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Interpol plans facial recognition database to catch suspects
Every year more than 800 million international travelers fail to undergo the most basic scrutiny to check whether their identity documents have been stolen, Interpol has warned; the organization plans a massive face-recognition database
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DHS, Michigan reach agreement on enhanced driver's license
The Michigan agreement, similar to that reached with other states, seeks to create an enhanced driver’s license — which denotes both identity and citizenship — as a compliance option to fulfill Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI) requirements
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Identifying emergency personnel
Emergency response teams work in confusing conditions; in large disasters, emergency units from several jurisdictions may be involved; the rescuers need to able to identify each other
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Briefly noted
As ports RFID deadline approaches, applications flood in… eMentum wins $23 million Contract to provide identity management services to DOJ… Early spotting of a potential IT train wreck… Getting the facts straight on cybersecurity
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Private-public partnership to promote cyber safety
New consortium to study ways to improve personal identification management on the Internet to combat crimes such as identity theft and fraud, narcotics and human trafficking, and terrorism
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Hacker reveals how to compromise e-passport systems
An anonymous technology researcher discusses the ease with which e-passports may be compromised by hackers
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Coast Guard to expand biometric project
There has been a 75 percent in the number of illegal immigrants attempting to cross the Mona Passage from the Dominican Republic into Puerto Rico in the past two years; the Coast Guard is not sure the drop is all due to the service’s biometric measures, but it thinks the technology has something to do with it
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The new face (well, not only face) of biometrics, II
Next-generation enterprise biometric solutions will evolve toward being able to work both with centralized, distributed as well as mobile devices, such as smartcards or contractless smartcards
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