City officials in Detroit have come to a compromise on police use of facial recognition technology, with an oversight committee clearing it for criminal investigations but banning the technology’s use in live surveillance. Police in Detroit had first started using facial recognition software in 2017, with Detroit City Council having approved its purchase. But as…
Microsoft is doubling down on its commitment to the ethical use of facial recognition. The company previously refused to sell facial recognition technology to a California law enforcement agency, and has now extended that moratorium to any government organization that would misuse the technology, specifically for surveillance. “We won’t sell facial recognition services for the…
After an initial trial phase, Philadelphia-based VSBLTY and Mexico City’s Energetika have announced a formal agreement concerning the joint deployment of their smart city solutions. Essentially, the collaboration will see Energetika’s energy-efficient lighting technology combined with VSBLTY’s crowd analytics and facial recognition technology in urban public security deployments. The companies’ contract will run to August…
“The efforts reflect the larger, increasingly contentious debate around facial recognition technology, which largely revolves around the axes of privacy advocates’ fears of Big Brother-style surveillance, and police organizations’ insistence that it offers a useful security and policing tool.” Fight for the Future, a non-profit advocacy group aimed at promoting a free internet, is now…
Zion Market Research has released a new report that predicts that the global biometric technology market will hit $59.43 billion by 2025, climbing from $17.16 billion in 2018. The final figure represents a CAGR of 19.42 percent. The forecast is nearly identical to that of Grand View Research, which projected a $59.31 billion global biometrics…
“The Department of Education has approved the use of facial recognition for the identification of sex offenders and individuals deemed to be a credible security threat; but it has ruled out the technology’s use in identifying students who have been suspended from the school.” Officials with the Lockport City School District have reached a compromise…
The government market has always been one of the key drivers of the overall biometrics industry. That’s partly because for a long time, the government sector pretty much was the biometrics industry; other areas, like consumer-facing biometrics and FinTech, are much more recent phenomena. But the government sector has also played an outsized role because…
Macau police have announced plans for a facial and object recognition trial that leverages the city’s extensive network of CCTV surveillance cameras. Fifty cameras will be selected for the facial recognition test, while another 50 will be selected for license plate recognition. The cameras are being installed as part of Macau’s ongoing, four-phase rollout of…
Sri Lanka police are planning to roll out a new face recognition surveillance system in an effort to track down wanted criminals. The system was discussed with Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena, and will be deployed alongside a database that contains information about subjects who have been ducking the authorities and avoiding capture. The criminal…
Brookline, Massachusetts, is the latest municipality to consider a ban on facial recognition technology. The legislation was put forward by town meeting member Amy Hummel, and will be voted on during a special town meeting in November. The proposal has the support of Cynthia Creem, who represents the town in the Massachusetts State Senate and…
“The rising instances of identity thefts and cyber crimes are boosting the adoption of multifactor authentication and multimodal technology systems.” Frost and Sullivan is predicting that the expansion of national ID programs will fuel the demand for biometric technology in the Asia-Pacific region over the next few years. In its report, the research firm noted…
“With these performance gains and simplified deployment, the improved platform opens up a variety of new applications and use cases for automated video analysis across industries.” – Peter Trepp, CEO FaceFirst FaceFirst has announced an upgraded version of its facial recognition platform. Version 6.6 of the biometric system offers multiple improvements. According to a blog…
“Police use of facial recognition software is the latest example of Orwellian technology that violates our privacy and civil liberties under the guise of public safety and it must stop.” Bernie Sanders has made facial recognition an important component of his campaign platform, calling for a complete ban on the police use of the technology.…
One of the investors in a major development near King’s Cross station in central London is investigating the use of facial recognition technology on the property. The 67-acre development includes Google and Samsung offices, in addition to shops, schools, and other public-facing services and amenities. The investor in question is the BT Pension Scheme (BTPS),…
The UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has launched an investigation into the use of facial recognition surveillance technology in the Granary Square development. Located near King’s Cross station in central London, the development consists of 50 separate buildings spread across 67 acres of land in the middle of the city. The British privacy watchdog opened…
Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost has announced that law enforcement officers will now need to undergo training in order to gain access to the state’s Ohio Law Enforcement Gateway (OHLEG), which includes the state’s facial recognition database. Until then, the AG is cutting off access to thousands of state officials, dropping the number of people…
VSBLTY has added two new members to its executive team. The company has announced that Matthew Pruitt will be taking over as the new Chief Experience Officer (CXO), while Paul Rinaldi has signed on as the company’s first Senior Client Services Director for Retail. The latter is a newly created position that will focus on…
“It’s aimed primarily at protecting tenants’ privacy, and defending them against potential over-policing.” A trio of Congresswomen have announced a new piece of legislation aimed at banning the use of biometric recognition in most public and assisted housing units funded by the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Billed “The No Biometric Barriers Housing Act…
The research firm MarketsandMarkets has released a new report on the security solutions market, projecting that the demand for security products and services will hit $373 billion by 2022. That number reflects a CAGR of 10.2 percent between 2017 and 2022. The commercial sector will make up the largest portion of that market, with corporations…