Biometrics

CRISIS FORECASTINGMultipurpose Model Enhances Forecasting Across Epidemics, Energy, and Economics
A new machine learning (ML) model from Georgia Tech could protect communities from diseases, better manage electricity consumption in cities, and promote business growth, all at the same time.
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SURVEILLANCE'Significant' Risks as Facial Recognition in Russia's Subways Goes Regional
By Andrei Grigoryev
In a move that human rights advocates warn carries potential risks for civil rights, Russia has begun expanding its facial-recognition payment system for subways to six cities outside of Moscow.
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SURVEIILANCEDetroit Takes Important Step in Curbing the Harms of Face Recognition Technology
By Tori Noble
In a first-of-its-kind agreement, the Detroit Police Department recently agreed to adopt strict limits on its officers’ use of face recognition technology as part of a settlement in a lawsuit brought by a victim of this faulty technology.
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BIOMETRICSThe New Fintech That Knows Whether Your Voice Matches Your Face
By John Jeffay
Your face is no longer your own. Nor is your voice. Fraudsters can steal them both from the Internet. And, using the power of AI, they can create a deepfake version of you that’s so convincing it’ll beat bank security. Banks and financial institutions increasingly use voice biometrics these days to confirm a caller’s identity.
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ELECTION INTEGRITYMore States Consider Voter ID Laws Amid Conflicting Research on Their Impact
By Matt Vasilogambros
36 states require some form of identification to cast a ballot. Voting rights advocates cite research showing that such rules block many legitimate voters — especially young, Black and Latino voters — from the polls. But backers of voter ID laws point to other studies which suggest that the rules have had a minimal effect on voter turnout, partly because Democrats often respond to them by amping up their voter mobilization efforts.
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DIGITAL IDENTITYCollaborative Research Effort on Digital Identity to Support Secure Delivery of Public Benefits
NIST has launched a collaborative project to adapt NIST’s digital identity guidelines to support public benefits programs, such as those designed to help beneficiaries pay for food, housing, medical and other basic living expenses.
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FACIAL RECOGNITIONSeeing Behind the Mask
There is a need for face recognition to be able to “see behind the mask” for security and safety. Researchers discusses the potential of new software which will allow facial recognition to work despite the mask you use.
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AIAI Faces Look More Real Than Actual Human Faces
White faces generated by artificial intelligence (AI) now appear more real than human faces, according to new research. The same wasn’t true for images of people of color.
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MONSTERSWhy the Search for the Loch Ness Monster (and Other Beasts) Continues 90 Years After That First Blurry Photograph
By Neil J. Gostling
It’s 90 years since Hugh Gray, in April 1933, took his blurry picture — and the beginning of the obsession with finding the Loch Ness monster. As a paleobiologist, I want to explore whether the type of monster we believe Nessy to be could exist and if we should continue looking.
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VOICE AUTHENTICATIONHow Secure Are Voice Authentication Systems Really?
Voice authentication has increasingly been used in remote banking, call centers and other security-critical scenarios. Attackers can break voice authentication with up to 99 percent success within six tries.
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REMOTE IDENTIFICATIONTrack 2 of the Remote Identity Validation Tech Demo Challenge
DHS S&T announces the launch of Track 2 of the Remote Identity Validation Technology Demonstration (RIVTD). RIVTD is a series of technology challenges to evaluate the ability of systems to authenticate identity documents, assess the “liveness” of selfie photos, and evaluate identity verification using images taken with smartphones and similar devices.
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BIOMETRICSU.K. Police Fail to Meet “Legal and Ethical Standards” in Use of Facial Recognition
Researchers devise an audit tool to test whether police use of facial recognition poses a threat to fundamental human rights, and analyze three deployments of the technology by British forces – with all three failing to meet “minimum ethical and legal standards.”
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BIOMETRICSFacial Recognition Technology and Counter-Terror Operations
By Akshat Upadhyay
The use of facial recognition technology in counterterrorism must address several formidable challenges before being adopted. This means we should proceed careful, even cautiously, before operationalizing the technology.
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BIOMETRICSFacial Recognition: U.K. Plans to Monitor Migrant Offenders Are Unethical – and They Won’t Work
By Namrata Primlani
The UK Home Office plans to make migrants convicted of criminal offences scan their faces five times a day using a smart watch equipped with facial recognition technology. This is a mistake. The difficulty working with darker skin tones reflects the experiences of people of color who try to use facial recognition technology. In recent years, researchers have demonstrated the unfairness in facial recognition systems, finding that the software and algorithms developed by big technology companies are more accurate at recognizing lighter skin tones than darker ones.
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BIOMETRICSDeepfakes Expose Vulnerabilities in Facial Recognition Technology
Mobile devices use facial recognition technology to help users quickly and securely unlock their phones, make a financial transaction or access medical records. But facial recognition technologies that employ a specific user-detection method are highly vulnerable to deepfake-based attacks that could lead to significant security concerns.
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