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…
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 – Healthcare Biometrics Unisys has been awarded a contract with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to provide Artificial Intelligence solutions for the government agency. The five year contract with a potential value of $49 million is aimed at enabling the HHS to use automation and other innovative solutions to…
IDEMIA has renewed its border partnership with the Australian Department of Home Affairs. According to the terms of the new contract, IDEMIA will continue to provide the Australian Border Agency with biometric SmartGates for the next five years, helping to ensure that Australia remains at the forefront of the border security conversation. The SmartGate portfolio…
Biometrics News – Facial Recognition – Fingerprint Recognition Britain’s Home Office is looking to overhaul its biometric capabilities after signing a new 10-year contract with Leidos UK. The Home Office is a ministry department that oversees law enforcement and immigration procedures in the UK, and has partnered with Leidos as part of the Home Office…
With September coming to a close, it’s time to take a look back at some of FindBiometrics’ featured coverage of Government Biometrics Month. The government sector is one of the most important components of the broader biometrics industry – indeed, it’s a driving force – so it’s always well worth taking a look at some…
Vision-Box has extended its partnership with the Australian Department of Home Affairs (DHA), reaching an agreement that will allow the SmartGate Departure Program to continue through 2026. The two organizations first began working together in 2015, when Vision-Box provided DHA with biometric SmartGates to improve the flow of traffic through Australia’s airports. The scope of…
Sometimes, FindBiometrics’ most popular articles in a given week will go in all kinds of directions in terms of topic and theme, and sometimes a week will be dominated by one modality, sector, or major event. But in this week’s roundup, there’s a bit of a thematic odd couple – mobile biometrics and government biometrics.…
India is moving forward with plans to set up a massive facial recognition surveillance scheme. The proposed system would centralize biometric data from multiple national databases, and would gather new data through a network of facial recognition cameras that would be set up throughout the country. Officials are hoping that the new system will help…
The Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA) is looking to enhance its facial recognition capabilities. The organization has issued a Request for Information (RFI), asking interested parties to share research and datasets related to biometric recognition and identification at altitude and range (BRIAR). In more general terms, that means that the IARPA wants to be…
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…
A former tech executive with some pretty substantial government experience is Daon‘s new President of Emerging Markets. In the tech world, John Sanders may be best known as a co-founder of Reveal Imaging Technologies, which he led as VP from 2003 to 2010. More recently, he served as CEO of Pramantha Solutions, a government-focused data…
The Australian state of Victoria has uploaded all of its driver’s license photos to the National Driver Licence Facial Recognition Solution (NDLFRS), a comprehensive facial recognition database maintained by the federal government’s Department of Home Affairs. For the moment, the images in the database will only be available to VicRoads and Victoria Police. The Victorian…
Of the myriad ways in which biometric technologies are transforming how the government does its work, its impact in citizen identification is one offering some of the greatest potential to change people’s lives for the better while improving government function. ID Goes Biometric In its most common application areas, the rise of biometric identification has…
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…
“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…
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…
The North Indian state of Uttar Pradesh is leveraging Mantra’s biometric technology to help with the distribution of food to eligible citizens. Mantra Softech is a manufacturer of Aadhaar-certified fingerprint and iris recognition sensors that have been used in a variety of government-sponsored programs, including a benefits program designed for small farmers. The deployment in…
“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…