Biometrics News – Facial Recognition Customs and Border Protection (CBP), a branch of The Department of Homeland Security, have filed a Request for Information to vendors seeking information and/or recommendations on biometric identity verification and body worn cameras. According to the RFI, the aim is to outfit Border Patrol agents with body cameras with the…
The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has been discreetly gathering the biometric information of tens of thousands of refugees, many of whom may never make it to America. According to a recent Privacy Impact Assessment, the information is being collected through a sharing arrangement with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), which…
Tascent’s InSight Face cooperative facial recognition solution has bested its competitors in the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) second annual Biometric Technology Rally. The Rally measured 14 biometric capture products in a test designed to mimic high-traffic environments like airports or other travel hubs. During the test, subjects were asked to move through an eight-foot…
Thanks to Valid, the Government of Guam has officially met the US Department of Homeland Security’s standards for Real ID Compliance. Guam’s Department of Revenue and Taxation consulted with the security giant throughout the certification process, which gives the territory of Guam the ability to issue driver’s licenses and ID cards that will be recognized…
An agreement to facilitate the sharing of biometric data between police authorities in Japan and the US has taken effect, The Japan Times reports. The deal concerns Japan’s National Policy Agency and America’s FBI and Department of Homeland Security. The countries first came to the agreement in 2014. While there were already previous agreements in…
The US Secret Service (USSS) has started testing facial recognition security around the White House, scanning passersby via CCTV feeds. For now, the trial relies upon USSS volunteers, whose faces are added to a watch list, and then automatically identified by the facial recognition system. But the ultimate aim is to scan passersby in the…
Biometric technology has advanced by leaps and bounds in recent years, and most of the credit tends to go to the private sector. Rightly so: One needs only to look at Apple’s new Face ID facial recognition system or Princeton Identity’s iris scanning technology to see the impressive results of private sector innovation. But the…
“As IDEMIA explains, only five of the 11 companies that participated in the Rally put forward dual, rather than unimodal, systems; and OneLook was one of the top performers, attaining a 93 percent user satisfaction score – one of the top three rankings across all 11 companies.” IDEMIA is celebrating its success in the Department…
The Department of Homeland Security, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Facebook, and Microsoft together made unlikely partners in a recent joint briefing to the National Association of Secretaries of State and the National Association of State Election Directors. The briefing revolved around the efforts taken by these organizations to prevent the kind of meddling seen…
The Department of Homeland Security has issued its Privacy Impact Assessment (PIA) for the second phase of the Traveler Verification Service (TVS), the biometric border screening program being developed by the US Customs and Border Protection Agency and the Transportation Security Administration. The program revolves around the biometric identification of travelers. As it stands in…
People don’t like having their identities stolen. That’s the key takeaway from new research from the University of Texas at Austin Center for Identity. The academic institution’s newly published “2018 Identity Theft Assessment and Prediction Report” highlights the emotional impact of identity theft, fraud, and online abuse, and the findings are perhaps predictable. According to…
A new piece of legislation aimed at facilitating the sharing of biometric intelligence on foreigners posing a potential security threat to the US has passed through the House Homeland Security Committee. Dubbed the “Biometric Identification Migration Alert Program (BITMAP) Authorization Act of 2018”, the bill passed by a vote of 20-7. The BITMAP program entails…
Barcelona-based facial recognition specialist Herta is celebrating its performance in the US Department of Homeland Security’s recent Biometric Technology Rally. The company says it was among the top three performers in the tests, which assessed different solutions based on their ability to match individuals to a large database in an airport screening-type scenario. Herta’s tailored…
The results of the Department of Homeland Security’s first Biometric Technology Rally are out, and Gemalto is celebrating a strong showing. Organized by the DHS’s Science and Technology Directorate (S&T), the 2018 Biometric Technology Rally was aimed at evaluating facial and iris recognition technologies from a select group of successful applicants., using the S&T’s Biometric…
The Department of Homeland Security is working on a secretive project aimed at dramatically expanding its biometric surveillance powers – and the Electronic Frontier Foundation is arguing it it must be stopped. The project is dubbed HART, for Homeland Advanced Recognition Technology, and it entails the collection of a wide range of data – not…
US border authorities are planning to launch a biometric border system at the Anazlduas checkpoint in Mexico that will scan the faces of drivers as they enter the country. Called the Vehicle Face System, it is in part a product of research conducted at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory last year which involved the development…
The Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Biometric Identity Management (OBIM) is looking for help with its communications strategy. The request comes in the form of an RFI (Request for Information), in which the agency notes that “[t]he concept of identity is quickly evolving to becoming a vital asset” in the greater effort to secure…
The Department of Homeland Security is looking into iris scanning for its official ID cards. Through its Office of the Chief Security Office (OCSO), the Department is requesting information on iris biometrics technologies that could be compatible with its PIV cards. The DHS says the iris scanning technologies it’s interested in would need to comply…
The International Biometrics + Identity Association (IBIA) has long been fighting for the implementation of a biometric exit program in the United States. Recently, the IBIA released a position paper on the topic, addressing old misconceptions that have stalled the program in the past, and urging the Department of Homeland Security to finally fulfill the mandate.…