• 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

  • MI5 seeks powers to trawl records in new terror hunt

    As part of the Brown government’s new counterterrorism strategy, which places emphasis on thwarting a cyber-attack on the United Kingdom, MI5 seeks total access to commuters’ travel records to help them meet the threat

  • 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

  • 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

  • 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

  • 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

  • TSA to examine airport passenger screenings

    TSA to undertake a sweeping review of airport security practices; private jets’ owners and passengers will have to provide personal information to be screened by border patrol

  • Banking security measures can tackle terrorism and terrorist financing

    Mobile phones can be part of the banks’ security to prevent terrorist financing through fraud, but it can also be a direct tool in the pursuit of homeland security

  • Uniloc offers StrongPoint to protect critical infrastructure

    U.S. critical infrastructure is controlled by Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) networks; in the innocent pre-9/11 years, emphasis had been placed on performance, reliability, and safety, leaving these networks prone to attack; Uniloc shows physical device “fingerprint”-based solution to make SCADA networks more secure

  • Heathrow's Terminal 5 will open in two weeks

    The new, beautiful terminal — it also has an impressive view of the airport and its surroundings — will open on 14 March, and begin operations on 27 March; the mixing — and fingerprinting — of both international and domestic travelers; transfers to other airlines; and tight security checks pose problems

  • Mounties smash massive identity-theft ring

    Royal Canadian Mounted Police discover thousands of stolen and forged credit cards, licences, passports, personal records — and printing and embossing machines to manufacture IDs, passports, and print forged money; largest such ring in Canadian history

  • 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