Following unanimous support by Ministers of Scottish Parliament after a debate last Thursday, Humza Yousef, Scotland’s Justice Secretary, said that a biometrics commissioner would instil confidence in the general public that their biometric data would be used in a “lawful and ethical” manner. In his address to the Scottish Parliament, Yousaf spoke of the plans…
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…
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…
Ever AI’s announcement that it was rebranding as Paravision this past summer arrived alongside some other big news: the company’s facial recognition algorithm had attained the top ranking in the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s ongoing Face Recognition Vendor Test. Coming after Ever AI had tied for first in the NIST’s Wild Images category…
Biometrics News – Facial Recognition Tom Morello and Evan Greer have penned an incendiary op-ed for Buzzfeed to encourage the public to mobilize against the ongoing rollout of facial recognition. The article specifically references the recent (and successful) efforts to prevent the deployment of facial recognition tech at large music festivals, suggesting that it could…
A large coalition of organizations and trade associations has asked Congress to reconsider public bans on facial recognition technology. The group sent a letter to leading Democrat and Republican lawmakers, encouraging them to establish clear federal guidelines in collaboration with industry representatives. According to the Security Identity Association (SIA), the letter is part of a…
The United States ranks just as poorly as the worst European Union members when it comes to privacy laws and government surveillance, according to a new analysis from Comparitech. Conducted by privacy advocate and tech journalist Paul Bischoff, the analysis scores various countries out of five, with 4.1-5 indicating that a country ‘upholds privacy standards…
Detroit lawmakers are expressing concern about law enforcement’s use of facial recognition technology. City council member Roy McCalister, Jr. will be discussing the technology at an upcoming community forum, while US Representative Brenda Lawrence is planning to introduce legislation that would regulate the technology at the federal level. The Detroit Board of Police Commissioners formally…
Biometrics News – Facial Recognition The UK Home Office has come under fire for a passport checking system with significant racial biases. The platform has trouble identifying people with very dark and very light skin, and has repeatedly mistaken lips for open mouths when trying to map the faces of darker skinned individuals. The system…
Biometrics News – Facial Recognition Spend.com has announced plans to integrate KNWN Technologies to bolster the security of its Spend App. KNWN Technologies’ proprietary AI-powered multi-factor facial recognition software will afford users of the Spend App continuous digital identity authentication and protection on any camera-enabled device, in real-time. The Spend App is a multi-currency banking…
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…
“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.…
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…
Amazon is claiming that it can see fear thanks to improvements to its Rekognition facial recognition platform. The latest update introduces more accurate gender and age identification. It will also be better at reading people’s emotions based on their facial characteristics, adding fear to a list that already includes happy, sad, angry, surprised, disgusted, calm,…
“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…
This week could see the further development of a small but growing trend toward banning the government’s use of facial recognition technology, with the Oakland City Council set to discuss a proposed ban in a meeting scheduled for Tuesday. Introduced earlier this year, the proposed ban would only apply to the municipal government, prohibiting it…
New York City Police Commissioner James O’Neill has taken to the New York Times to try to dispel the public’s concerns about facial recognition technology. In the article, O’Neill details the NYPD’s operational procedures for the use of facial recognition, emphasizing that it is only a “limited and preliminary step” that informs a more rigorous…
Megvii has been exonerated in an investigation into human rights violations in China. The New York-based Human Rights Watch previously uncovered Megvii code in a government surveillance app being used to monitor the Uyghur muslims in Xinjiang back in May. However, the same organization is now reporting that the code was “inoperable,” and that Megvii…
Microsoft’s MS Celeb dataset of face images has been quietly taken down by the company. The open source dataset has been used to train and test facial recognition systems, with major names like IBM, Panasonic, Alibaba, and Hitachi having used it for their own purposes. Ostensibly a collection of Public Domain celebrity photos, MS Celeb…