Biometrics

All airlines flying to the U.S. now gather passenger information for terror check
All 197 airlines that fly to the United States are now collecting names, genders, and birth dates of passengers so the government can check them against terror watch lists before they fly; getting all air carriers that travel to or through the United States to provide this information marks a milestone in the government’s counterterror efforts and completes a recommendation of the special commission that studied government shortcomings before and after the 9/11 attacks
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Fingerprinting on the go -- and on the street
Police in North Carolina are deploying more than 100 portable fingerprinting devices to a handful of law enforcement agencies throughout the Chapel Hill region; the devices use Rapid Identification COPS Technology — software for handheld wireless devices that lets a law officer scan an individual’s fingerprints and then search the agency’s database for possible identification — all at the arrest scene
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Aussie students develop new fingerprint technology
Current methods for visualizing fingerprints on paper are labor-intensive and time-consuming, using toxic dyes and chemicals to stain the fingerprints or make them fluorescent; two students at the University of Technology-Sydney developed a new technology — Thermal Fingerprint Developer — which, as the name suggests, uses heat to develop the fingerprint in a matter of seconds
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Sector Report for Tuesday, 23 November 2010: Authentication / Biometrics
This report contains the following stories.
* SIA releases guidelines for bringing biometrics to E-Verify

* FAA to require photos, but no biometric info, on pilot's licenses

* Salmat offers voice biometrics to mid-market

* Suprema to provides palm-print scanners to Poland, Lithuania
Plus 1 additional story.
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SIA releases guidelines for bringing biometrics to E-Verify
The Security Industry Association, a trade group representing businesses in electronic and physical security, has released suggested guidelines for adding biometrics to the federal E-Verify federal resident verification program
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FAA to require photos, but no biometric info, on pilot's licenses
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has proposed that all pilot certificates include a photo of the licensee, but one lawmaker wants to know why the passport-size cards will not include biometric identification five years after Congress passed a law requiring such unique identifiers
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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Overseas students in Australia to face biometric scans
Foreign students in Australia will be included in a trial of biometric checks as part of a wider campaign to weed out potential terrorists; the screening process has been described by the Immigration Department as a discreet, non-intrusive examination that captures a digital facial image and 10-digit fingerprint scan
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India's ambitious UIDAI project launched
India’s ambitious UIDAI ID scheme aims to assign a biometric ID to country’s 1.2 billion inhabitants; Morpho helped the Indian prime minister officially launch to project by issuing the first 12-digit UIAID number during the inauguration ceremony
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Facial-recognition technology comes to mobile phones
Scientists at the University of Manchester have developed software for mobile phones that can track your facial features in real time; eventually it will be able to tell who the user is, where they are looking, and even how they are feeling
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