Unisys has renewed its contract with the Queensland Department of Transport and Main Roads (TMR) to facilitate the creation of secure biometric driver’s licenses, marine licenses, and accreditations. The two organizations first joined forces back in 2009, and TMR has issued more than 4.5 million smart licenses to Queensland residents in the decade since. Now…
There’s always plenty of variety in the world of biometrics news, but this week’s crop of FindBiometrics’ most popular articles really runs the gamut across a number of fields. First of all, there’s the perennial issue of strong online authentication. The news that GitHub – perhaps the world’s most popular ‘code repository’ for web development…
India is equipping its sailors with a Biometric Seafarer Identity Document (BSID) with facial biometrics embedded in the card’s chip. Shipping Minister Mansukh Mandaviya handed out five cards during a press conference announcing the new IDs, and the country itself plans to hand out 15,000 more on an annual basis. At the moment, there are…
NEC has agreed to share its biometrics expertise with the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP). Through the partnership, the WFP will be able to upgrade the SCOPE digital identity management platform that the organization uses to distribute food and other benefits. The move is in keeping with the UN’s broader interest in biometric technology,…
Government biometrics appears to be the theme of the week in FindBiometrics’ latest roundup of top stories. More specifically, three of this week’s top five concern government agencies’ use of biometric technology to identify individuals in their charge. Perhaps the biggest story of these concerned a new draft Request for Quote from the US Customs…
Over half a million Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh have now received biometric identity documents, the United Nations’ refugee agency has announced. Speaking at a press conference at the Palais des Nations in Geneva, UNHCR spokesperson Andrej Mahecic called the biometric identity cards “fraud-proof”, and explained that they have been jointly issued by UNHCR and Bangladeshi…
The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) is celebrating a major Aadhaar milestone after revealing that the Aadhaar-enabled Payment System (AePS) has now been used for more than 200 million transactions. The AePS crossed the 200 million threshold sometime in the past month, with more than 66 million Indian citizens using the service in July…
“The UNHCR has proven to be an enthusiastic proponent of biometric identification in recent years, deploying such technologies in major refugee camps and highlighting its utility in providing displaced individuals with a reliable form of official documentation.” The United Nations’ refugee agency (UNHCR) is looking for some expert assistance in its efforts to establish digital…
FindBiometrics will be reporting live from ID4Africa next week, delivering breaking news and live audio interviews to keep our global readership informed about what’s happening in one of the world’s most exciting identity markets. Over the past few years, ID4Africa has emerged as one of the identity industry’s most important events. The conference isn’t simply…
“And as the UNHCR has previously outlined, the biometric ID cards themselves can help refugees to access critical services, and can be used for resettlement and potential repatriation.” Well over a quarter million Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh have now been registered for biometric ID cards, the United Nations’ refugee agency has announced. It’s the latest…
The United Nations’ refugee agency has been vocal about the benefits of biometric identification for those in its charge for years, but recently the organization invoked this technology in its own defense. The UNHCR was responding to an extensive investigative report from NBC alleging widespread corruption at the refugee agency. Usually this involves bribery in…
The Unique Identification Authority of India once again finds itself in the position of having to explain away a purported breach of its Aadhaar biometric national ID database. This time, the issue concerns IT Grid (India), a private IT firm, which allegedly got ahold of Aadhaar data concerning 78 million citizens in the Telangana and…
Officials with the United Nations refugee agency continue to promote the benefits of biometric registration as they call for continuing attention to Bangladesh’s Rohingya muslim refugees. Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya have fled to Bangladesh from Myanmar since genocidal attacks against their people began in 2017, making them one of the world’s biggest refugee populations.…
After a high-level tour of refugee centers in Bangladesh, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees is more convinced than ever of the importance of biometric IDs for helping displaced people. The visit was conducted by Volker Türk, the Assistant High Commissioner for Protection at the United Nations’ refugee agency, who visited Bangladesh to assess…
“Even if government authorities can’t make Aadhaar authentication mandatory, they can still accept it from citizens who prefer to use it.” Just a few months after a Supreme Court ruling laid out restrictions to how India’s national biometric ID program can be used, the national government has amended legislation governing the Aadhaar program to make…
“The situation is only the latest illustration of the haphazard character of Aadhaar’s rapid evolution over the last few years, with government agencies and businesses applying the ID program in something of a regulatory and legal fog.” The Indian Supreme Court’s decision to restrict the use of Aadhaar, India’s biometric national ID program, to government…
“As far back as February of this year, the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), which administrates Aadhaar, issued a statement reminding government officials that they must provide services to citizens even when Aadhaar authentication fails…” India’s biometric national ID program has delivered some tremendous benefits to the country, but it has also led to…
“This ruling comes a little over a year after the Supreme Court’s ruling last summer that privacy is a fundamental right of Indian citizens…” India’s Supreme Court has issued a new ruling that seeks to limit the reach of Aadhaar, the country’s ambitious biometric national ID program. According to a new Reuters report, the ruling…
The Unique Identification Authority of India is once again recalibrating its efforts to promote Aadhaar, the country’s biometric national ID program, with the announcement that it will offer Rs 2B, or about $27,668,000, in assistance to school districts for the enrollment of students. It’s a response to confusion among school administrators that was arguably the…