A regulatory authority in California has determined that it won’t require ride-hailing services like Uber and Lyft to perform fingerprint-based background checks for their drivers. The California Public Utilities Commission indicated its decision in a new report, which still requires approval by a vote, but it appears unlikely that it will be opposed. Essentially, the…
“…the subject’s fingerprint inherently links that individual to the molecular sample, helping to ensure that the test results are accurately ascribed to the right person.” An experimental new drug test combines biometrics and biophysics to determine whether a subject has recently used cocaine. The method was developed by researchers at the University of Surrey in…
NEC Asia Pacific is a Gold sponsor of the 26th GovernmentWare conference in Singapore, and will be on hand to show off its solutions for government security. Its biometric offerings will play a large role, with NEC’s NeoFace Watch offering realtime facial recognition for video surveillance, and NeoFace Image demonstrating how facial recognition can be…
September is Government Applications Month at FindBiometrics, during which we are placing a featured focus on the identity management and strong authentication technologies that keep modern society secure, convenient, and safe. From military ID and physical access control, to border security, law enforcement and next-gen voting, biometric technology has become a key component of the…
Twenty-five individuals wanted by police in China have been apprehended after being identified by facial recognition technology deployed at a major beer festival, reports The Guardian. Police were stationed alongside camera systems equipped with the biometric technology at entrances to the Qingdao event; among their captures was a fugitive who had been on the run…
Over a third of the red flags produced by the New York DMV’s facial recognition system have arrived since it was upgraded at the start of last year, according to new figures from the Governor’s office. The facial recognition system was initially deployed in 2010, when it used 64 different points of measurement in capturing…
The UK’s National DNA Database Ethics Group has been renamed the Biometrics and Forensics Ethics Group (BFEG), and will have an expanded focus. The organization is a public agency charged with advising the Home Office, the government agency responsible for security, law, and immigration. Its rebrand is the result of a Triennial Review of Home…
“The solution will put NEC and Miyoshi at the vanguard of an emerging security technology innovation…” NEC is joining forces with a Singapore-based engineering services firm to integrate its facial recognition technology into a body camera system for security personnel. Miyoshi’s body camera solution, dubbed the ‘Digital SRS’, features a low-latency audio and video transmitter…
The FBI has followed through on its plan to exempt its Next Generation Identification system from the Privacy Act. Effective August 31st, 2017, the FBI is no longer bound by the requirement to acknowledge whether it is holding an individual’s biometric records. The NGI system is widely used by law enforcement and security authorities to…
German officials have begun testing facial recognition technology at Berlin’s Südkreuz train station. The aim is to determine whether implementing the biometric identification technology with CCTV cameras could help to boost security, particularly with respect to preventing terrorism, by identifying suspects automatically as they pass through the station. The trial has attracted about 300 volunteers, who…
Digital Barriers has announced that it will provide its facial recognition technology at no cost to police and government authorities in the UK to aid in the search for missing persons. The news comes very soon after Digital Barriers’ launch of facial recognition technology for police body cameras, enabling live scans in the field as…
Digital Barriers has launched what it calls the world’s first live facial recognition system for body cameras. It’s called SmartVis Identifier, and is based in part on Digital Barriers’ EdgeVis platform, which enables live facial recognition against watch lists via smartphone camera streams. SmartVis brings that concept to Digital Barriers’ body-worn cameras aimed at police…
A sheriff’s office in Minnesota may be compelled to publicly disclose how it uses biometric technology, depending on the outcome of a case before the state’s Supreme Court. The suit was first filed by Tony Webster, a web developer and researcher, in 2015, and is backed by the Electronic Frontier Foundation and a MuckRock campaign,…
“…SWP Assistant Chief Constable Richard Lewis highlighted the technology’s utility in the case of the aforementioned arrest of a wanted criminal…” NEC is offering new details on the biometric technology it has provided to South Wales Police in the UK. The technology was deployed this past spring, ahead of a major soccer match in Cardiff.…
“…in cases in which there is a potential prison sentence of a year or more, authorities will have permission to access the fingerprint databases for criminal matches, with Sweden’s containing about 165,000 such records, and the FBI in possession of about 100 million.” Police authorities in the US and Sweden will soon be able to…
Innovatrics has launched a new software tool, called Latent Editor, that could be a great aid in forensic investigations. It’s designed to let users edit and enhance latent fingerprint images. It has an automatic minutiae detection feature, and a ‘smart separation’ function designed to let users separate overlapping fingerprints. And it can be used with…
NEC will participate in INTERPOL World 2017, the company has announced. The international police consortium bills the event as an opportunity for government and business organizations, as well as policy specialists, to confer on innovative approaches to fighting crime, and to show off new solutions. Thus for NEC the event represents an opportunity to showcase…
Hitachi is working on a breathalyzer system that uses facial recognition to ensure a car’s driver is the one being tested for alcohol consumption. The system is designed for use with a smartphone. A compact breath analysis device is attached to a given subject’s smartphone, and can then leverage the phone’s built-in camera to scan…
South Wales Police have made their first arrest using newly-deployed facial recognition technology. Plans for the technology’s use were first unveiled earlier this spring, with SWP aiming to leverage surveillance cameras at the Cardiff Principality Stadium for a major soccer match this month, with additional deployments Cardiff’s main train station. The police force has also…
German authorities will trial facial recognition technologies at Berlin’s Suedkreuz station. As The Local’s German outlet reports, in a recent interview with the newspaper Tagesspiegel, Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere indicated that the system will scan specifically for known criminals and terrorists, and should thereby adhere to privacy laws, since law abiding citizens will not…
New fingerprint biometrics technology has been used to identify the victim of a 33-year-old homicide, reports the Associated Press. The body was found near a walking trail in Des Moines in late February of 1984, with investigators unable at the time to determine the victim’s identity. Now, the FBI’s Latent Print Unit has succeeded in…
Vermont’s DMV has been using facial recognition technology to search through its database of driver license holders at the behest of police authorities at all levels of government, says the ACLU. The civil liberties organization says it discovered the practice through internal DMV documents it was able to obtain, and is now calling for its…
“The project will see the upgrade of palmprint scanning technology across almost 400 enrollment and capture stations in the country.” Crossmatch is offering some commentary on its new contract to upgrade the UK Home Office’s Forensic and Biometric Interim Capability, or FABrIC, program, emphasizing its collaboration with government authorities. The contract was announced last week,…
“Now, hundreds of those palm scanners are going to be replaced with the Crossmatch L Scan 1000, which offers 1,000 ppi resolution.” New Crossmatch livescan technology will be used to upgrade the biometric criminal booking systems used in the UK Home Office Forensic and Biometric Interim Capability, or ‘FABrIC’, program. The upgrade will be undertaken by Northrop…
Safran Identity & Security has won a contract to upgrade the legacy automated fingerprint identification system (AFIS) used by the Botswana Police Service. It’s a continuation of a longstanding relationship, with Safran having provided technology to the BPS since 1998. Now, the plan is to upgrade the AFIS to a system that uses both fingerprint…
South Wales Police plans to use facial recognition to scan for potential troublemakers at a major upcoming soccer match. The final match of the UEFA Champions League will take place on June 3rd in Cardiff’s Principality Stadium. As Motherboard reports, police authorities plan to use facial recognition to scan video surveillance feeds and match faces…
“Safran Identity & Security is also going to show off its MorphoPass biometric airport screening system, which is set to feature in the Fast and Seamless Travel project at Singapore’s Changi airport…” Safran Identity & Security is aiming to make a strong impression at this week’s Milipol Asia-Pacific security expo in Singapore. The company has…
NEC Corporation of America is bringing new biometric capabilities to its UNIVERGE Communications platforms, the company has announced. One of those capabilities is dubbed NeoFace Welcome, a virtual receptionist system that uses NEC’s top-ranking facial recognition technology to identify individuals and give them personalized greetings and messages. It can also provide targeting marketing media based on…
Safran Identity & Security has delivered facial recognition technology to Dutch police. The company has announced that the National Police of the Netherlands now have access to MorphoBIS Face Expert, a system allowing investigators to apply facial recognition to forensic images; and MorphoBIS Face Detective, which lets police match facial images against those in criminal…
“It should be a welcome ruling from the perspective of privacy advocates like the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which decried a similar police effort in California last autumn.” Police cannot walk into a building and order everyone inside to unlock their iPhones via fingerprint scan, an Illinois federal court has ruled. The case arose from police…
State authorities in Maharashtra, India, are preparing to implement biometric identification of criminals, and Safran Identity & Security and NEC are in the running to provide the needed technology, reports The Indian Express. The Automatic Multi-modal Biometric Identification System (AMBIS) will employ fingerprint, facial, and iris recognition, allowing state law enforcement officials to check criminals’ biometric…
Applied World Solutions is offering a new product that could help law enforcement officers with their fingerprint scanning activities. It’s called Minutia Advancement Paste, or MAP, and AWS says it can substantially enhance the quality of fingerprints. It does that by swelling the ridges of a given fingerprint, making them more defined; and by moistening…
The Minnesota Court of Appeals has produced another wrinkle in the contentious matter of privacy rights with respect to biometrically locked mobile devices. The court recently denied an appeal from a convicted burglar who had tried to argue that a court order compelling him to unlock his phone for police via fingerprint scan had violated his Fifth…
The FBI has announced that with the help of biometric identification technology, it has arrested a fugitive who has been on the run for 17 years, reports Ars Technica. The fugitive was suspected of being the culprit in a child abduction and molestation case in Indiana back in February, 2000. At the time, the suspect…
The first tangible legal outcome from the state of Illinois’ biometric data legislation has emerged, reports Big Law Business. It’s the same legislation that has ensnared tech giants like Facebook and Google for their use of biometric identification technologies. The law requires that companies get consent from individuals before ascertaining their biometric data, and compels…
Safran Identity & Security has become INTERPOL’s exclusive facial recognition partner. They seem to be a good match. Safran has a strong background in providing biometric technologies to government clients, while INTERPOL has increasingly concerned itself with biometric identification in its global fight against crime. In a statement announcing the partnership, Safran Identity & Security Security Division…
“The legislation is set to take effect December 15th, but the Maryland Public Service Commission will hold hearings on the matter starting this Thursday, with Uber and Lyft officials expected to participate.” Ride-hailing services Uber and Lyft are threatening to halt operations in Maryland if they are forced to comply with new legislation requiring that…
INTERPOL is calling on governments around the world to share the biometric information of known terrorists in order to help improve global security. The call comes via INTERPOL’s General Assembly, which has convened for this week’s 85th ICPO-INTERPOL General Assembly Exhibition in Bali, Indonesia. In a statement, the global police agency said it currently possesses…
NEC Corporation has an opportunity to pitch its technologies to the world’s most high-profile international police body this week. The company is attending the 85th ICPO-INTERPOL General Assembly Exhibition, where it is also be an exhibitor. It’s placing a strong focus on digital security, highlighting its Digital Forensic Solution in the wake of major recent hack attacks. But the…
The French government has introduced a new executive order mandating the creation of a national biometric ID database, reports Ars Technica UK. The system will contain standard biographic information of French citizens as well as the biometric data contained on citizens’ passports and identity cards, though it won’t contain the biometric data of children under…
“…given NEC’s previous successful law enforcement deployments with its NeoFace technology, NeoFace Idm will likely find some interested clients for this new software.” NEC has announced a new offering based on its NeoFace facial recognition technology. Called NeoFace Image data mining, or NeoFace Idm, the software is designed to scan through video footage for specified faces.…
Privacy rights advocates are battling the Hennepin County Sheriff Office in court over records pertaining to police authorities’ use of biometric identification technology. It’s the result of an Electronic Frontier Foundation campaign to help concerned citizens file information requests from local government and law enforcement agencies. One participant, Tony Webster, sent such a request to…
FindBiometrics president Peter O’Neill recently interviewed Joe Rosenkrantz, CEO, FaceFirst. The conversation begins with a brief recap of the company’s origins and ambitions before reviewing the company’s powerful facial recognition solutions, the markets they serve, and how innovations in mobility have affected the evolution of the FaceFirst system. Because privacy is at the forefront of face…
Law enforcement authorities’ use of facial recognition technology is putting half of Americans into a “perpetual lineup” of potential criminals, according to a new study from Georgetown Law’s Center on Privacy and Technology. The study suggests that excessive use of the technology is violating numerous Americans’ civil rights. It’s the product of a year-long investigation based…
Police in Lancaster, California, sought a warrant to force all individuals at a specific premises to unlock their phones via fingerprint scan. More surprisingly, the warrant was granted, by Central District of California attorney Eileen Decker. It isn’t clear if the warrant was actually used, but its scope is remarkable. While police search warrants are…
One of the big showstopping events of this year’s recent Global Identity Summit was the Bratwurst, Beer and Biometrics party hosted by Germany-based JENETRIC. The festivities served as a stage for the company to launch its latest biometric technology, the LIVETOUCH quattro Compact mobile tenprint reader (pictured right). FindBiometrics President Peter O’Neill recently had the…
Facial recognition technology has helped authorities in Ireland to catch an individual with two Personal Public Service numbers, according to the Irish Examiner. The PPS number is essentially Ireland’s version of a social security number, and is used to access a range of government services. Hiadar Alnoor, a resident of Cork, was found to be…
Last week at FindBiometrics we brought Law Enforcement Biometrics Month to a close while announcing the next big biometrics industry webinar, co-hosted by Samsung SDS America and our sister site Mobile ID World. Meanwhile, the industry news had us talking about under-glass fingerprints sensors, biometrics powered payments, and the newly announced candidate in exclusive talks…
September was Biometric Law Enforcement Month here at FindBiometrics, in which we lent a feature focus to the justice-centered applications and solutions in identity technology. The special month-long event culminated Wednesday, September 28, 2016, with an expert webinar on the topic: Connected Justice: The Benefits and Challenges of Biometric Law Enforcement. Beginning with an overview of…