• JFK now requires 10 fingerprints from visitors

    New York’s JFK joins a list of other U.S. airports now requiring non-U.S. citizens to submit ten fingerprints; on a typical day, JFK sees almost 14,400 international visitors complete US‑VISIT biometric procedures

  • Sequiam files for Chapter 11

    Orlando biometrics company claims its lead investor reneged on as much as $3 million of the firm’s $11 million loan commitment; late last week this investor announced plans to become the lead financier for Sequiam’s rival

  • Fingerprint market to reach $2.1 billion by 2013

    The fingerprinting/biometrics segment will reach $940 million in 2008 and $2.1 billion by 2013; next five years will be a boon to forensic technologies

  • Pay By Touch discontinues biometrics services

    Pay By Touch came to market with much fanfare, offering to process biometric transactions for merchants; things did not work as planned, and company discontinues service

  • New U.K. approach to national ID card scheme

    Technology is just one issue in the U.K. government’s overhaul of controversial identity plan

  • Fingerprint scheme at Heathrow's Terminal 5 challenged

    BAA’s plan to require fingerprints from both international and domestic passengers who use the terminal may violate the U.K. Data Protection Act; Thursday’s opening of the £4.3 billion terminal may be delayed

  • Growth of facial recognition biometrics, II

    Some twenty states already use facial recognition in their DMVs, and more states are planning to do so; the federal government incorporates facial recognition in some of its important initiatives; privacy advocates are concerned that the technology is becoming too pervasive

  • Voice biometrics gaining a foot hold

    Philips and PerSay combine encryption software with technology that manages users’ “voiceprints” and speech verification; both potential customers and privacy advocates say they like it

  • Growth of facial recognition biometrics, I

    More and more private and government organizations turn to facial recognition biometric (just think DMVs), but privacy concerns slow broader adoption

  • Beyond fingerprinting: Alternative biometric technologies advance

    As more organizations turn to biometric technology to help them perform their missions, they show interest in a variety of technologies — vein architecture, retinal scan, facial recognition, and more; these are good times for innovative biometric companies

  • Biometric-at-a-distance is not here yet

    For four years, the government has poured a lot of money on long-distance surveillance systems which would identify individuals from a distance in a crowd; the technology is not here yet

  • Biometrics help soldiers in Iraq

    Biometric readers connected to databases allow soldiers in Iraq quickly to identify suspects at check points and those arrested during night raids

  • Voice biometrics gaining acceptance

    Banks are interested in applying voice biometrics to Internet banking; voice profile eliminates the need for remembering identifiers such as PINs, passwords, mother’s maiden name, or for having special equipment such as PIN pads or fobs

  • Coast Guard, US-VISIT expands biometrics-at-sea to Florida Straits

    Since the program began in November 2006, the Coast Guard has collected biometric data from 1,526 migrants and prosecuted 118 of those migrants; program was tested in the Mona Passage between Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic, and judged successful, is now being expanded to the Florida Straits

  • Face reading software

    Spanish researchers develop algorithm capable of reading facial expressions from video images; by applying the algorithm, the system is capable of processing thirty images per second to recognize a person’s facial expressions in real time before categorizing them as expressing anger, disgust, fear, happiness, sadness, or surprise