“BIPA has netted a growing number of these kinds of lawsuits in recent years, based on the simple legal premise that informed consent must be obtained from an individual before their biometric data is collected.” Surprising no one, Clearview AI – the controversial firm that has been quietly selling facial recognition technology to police –…
Government officials in Suzhou have issued a formal apology for an act of public shaming that was carried out using the city’s surveillance cameras. The cameras are equipped with facial recognition technology, which means that the city can use them to identify individual residents. The city was forced to apologize after flagrantly abusing that…
With the tech industry facing the possibility of a multi-year moratorium on biometric facial recognition in the European Union, the executives of two of the world’s biggest companies have come down on different sides of the debate. The CEO of Google’s parent company Alphabet, Sundar Pichai, suggested that he was in favor of the moratorium…
Privacy advocates are in an uproar in the wake of a bombshell report from the New York Times. The report details the activities of a company called Clearview AI, an American startup that has quietly provided facial recognition services to more than 600 law enforcement agencies. Unlike other facial recognition tools – which often limit…
The European Union is reportedly considering a temporary ban on the public use of facial recognition technology. The news comes courtesy of a leaked draft of a European Commission white paper, the final version of which is set to be published in February. If the report proves to be accurate, the proposed legislation would completely…
The House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Reform held its third hearing on facial recognition technology this week, as House members work on a bill aimed at regulating the use of this technology. At present, little is known about the legislation’s details, but the Committee on Oversight and Reform extended the opportunity to comment…
CyberLink has formed a strategic partnership with the IP surveillance specialist VIVOTEK. The alliance specifically concerns CyberLink’s FaceMe facial recognition engine, which will now be integrated into VIVOTEK’s various surveillance solutions. Both companies are based in Taiwan. According to VIVOTEK, the partnership will allow the company to provide customers with more comprehensive and more responsive…
The Cambridge City Council has unanimously voted to ban the public use of facial recognition technology. The decision makes Cambridge the fourth (and largest) Massachusetts community to issue such a ban, following similar initiatives in Somerville, Brookline, and Northampton. The legislation specifically bars the deliberate use of facial recognition (and any information gathered through facial…
Fans of the Cardiff City football club in Wales protested the use of facial recognition technology ahead of a recent game against Swansea City. The South Wales police had deployed two surveillance vans in the area around Cardiff City’s stadium, arguing that the vans would help catch perpetrators wanted for football-related crimes. The Cardiff City…
After a long period of administrative dialogue, New York state now has its first publicly known school deployment of facial recognition technology. The AEGIS security system went live in Lockport Central School District on January 2nd. When school district officials’ plans to implement the system were revealed in the summer of 2018, they immediately drew…
IPVM has officially opened a 12,000 square foot facility to test video surveillance equipment. The new facility was built to determine how well different surveillance solutions perform in a simulated real-world setting, and whether or not those solutions live up to the marketing expectations. “Increasingly, security products claim to include AI, deep learning, and facial…
The town of Brookline, Massachusetts, has officially moved forward with its facial recognition ban. The proposed ban was first tabled back in August with the blessing of Brookline State Senator Cynthia Creem. The new law bars the government’s use of facial recognition technology for surveillance and other purposes. It passed with an overwhelming 179 votes…
Comparitech has released a comprehensive report that evaluates the pervasiveness of biometric technology in 50 different countries. The report rated the countries based on their use (or non-use) of various technologies, as well as the legal protections those countries put in place to protect the privacy of their citizens. Each country was assigned a numerical…
ABI Research is predicting that the demand for better security solutions will drive the market for biometric hardware to $19 billion by 2024. The firm expects Body-Worn Cameras (BWC), surveillance cameras, and access control technology to display the most growth over that time period, with much of that revenue coming from the public sector. Law…
Fingerprint recognition is the biometric modality that is most often used in everyday life thanks to the prevalence of such sensors on contemporary smartphones, but it’s probably facial recognition that jumps to mind for most people when they think of biometric technology. It’s a modality that’s constantly in the news, thanks to sophisticated new consumer-facing…
Beijing-based facial recognition company Megvii has indeed pressed ahead with its push for a Q4 IPO in Hong Kong, but has reportedly run into a regulatory obstacle. Citing anonymous “with knowledge of the matter”, Reuters reports that the Hong Kong Stock Exchange’s Listing Committee did not approve Megvii’s application last week, with committee members asking…
Just a few years ago, the kind of biometric technology most familiar to everyday consumers was probably fingerprint recognition, thanks to the explosion of fingerprint sensors across a wide range of smartphones. But today, there’s a different modality in the spotlight: facial recognition. And sometimes that light isn’t very flattering. Much of the credit for…
IDEMIA will be showcasing a variety of biometric security solutions at this week’s Milipol Paris event, which runs from November 19 to 22. The technology on display is primarily designed for law enforcement and government organizations. IDEMIA’s offerings have been slotted into three separate categories based on the intended purpose of each solution. Some of…
Amazon Web Services (AWS) is the subject of a lawsuit for violating the Illinois Biometric Privacy Act (BIPA). This is the latest in a string of BIPA violation suits filed against major corporations in the state of Illinois, where the act aims to protect individuals from having their biometric data recorded, stored, or used without…