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,…
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 inaugural K(NO)W Identity Conference is currently underway in Washington, DC, and FindBiometrics is there in person at this great meeting of the leading minds in global identity technology. K(NO)W is unique as a trade show, operating on a high conceptual level rather than drilling down into a specific vertical where digital identity is used.…
FindBiometrics is in Washington this week for the inaugural K(NO)W Identity Conference. Day one started off with an incredibly high profile opening presentation, a conversation between Manoush Zomorodi, host and managing editor of the Note to Self podcast, and former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, who joined the stage remotely from Russia. Zomorodi interviewed Snowden for nearly…
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…
FindBiometrics president Peter O’Neill recently spoke with Travis Jarae, CEO of One World Identity (OWI). The conversation begins with a look at the organization’s Google-based origins before delving into what to expect at OWI’s inaugural K(NO)W Identity Conference, it’s potentially controversial headlining keynote speaker, and how discussions of privacy will be handled at the groundbreaking…
Having launched criminal investigation against multiple organizations for misuse of Aadhaar a couple of weeks ago, the Unique Identification Authority of India is now seeking to reassure the public that the incident did not involve a breach of the national ID program’s biometic data. The case of misuse involved Axis Bank and its business partners Suvidhaa Infoserve…
Legislators in Montana are considering a new bill that would establish new regulations around biometric data in the state, and the Electronic Frontier Foundation is throwing its support behind it. House Bill 518 would require companies to obtain written consent before collecting biometric information from individuals, to store it securely, and to destroy it when…
“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…
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…
Presenting at the most recent Chaos Communications Congress in Hamburg, artist Adam Harvey unveiled fashion designs aimed at confusing and thwarting facial recognition technology. Developed in collaboration with Hyphen-Labs, the designs incorporate abstract graphics aimed at tricking facial recognition systems into interpreting them as multiple faces images. Harvey’s aim is to overwhelm facial recognition systems…
NTechLab, the Moscow-based team behind an app that can search Russia’s version of Facebook to find particular faces, has turned its attention to Twitter. A new version of its FindFace app launched Friday with the capability of tracking down an individual’s face among 300 million Twitter accounts in under one second. Twitter has already responded indicating…
Last week at FindBiometrics we previewed what to expect at this week’s massive FinTech show, Money20/20. Meanwhile, the headlines were filled with fingerprint biometrics integrations, mobile eye-scanning technology, and even some controversy regarding biometrics and privacy. Here’s a look back on last week’s top biometrics news stories. Preparing For Money20/20 This week we are in…
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…
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…
Microsoft has filed a patent application for a system that would use biometrics to adjust how much personal information is displayed on a device’s lock screen, reports MSPowerUser. At the moment, most mobile operating systems let users tailor what kinds of information can be displayed on the lock screen – for example, whether text messages can…
Financial services is the big use case for biometrics right now, and on November 2, 2016, Samsung SDS America, in concert with Mobile ID World, will be presenting a webinar event aimed at addressing lingering concerns regarding strong authentication in today’s financial markets: FinServ in the New Age of Identity: Addressing Your Biometrics Concerns. – Register Now…
With its latest iOS update, Apple continues to position itself as a privacy leader, though it isn’t doing so in an entirely sure-footed way. As the Electronic Frontier Foundation reports, Apple is ostensibly taking a couple of steps in the right direction, the surest of which being its approach to face and object recognition for…
Google is bringing its Incognito search function to its iOS app, and is adding biometric security to the mix. Incognito search is already available on the Google Chrome app, letting users browse the web in a way that doesn’t tie their searches to their accounts, allowing for a certain measure of privacy. Now, that same…
Police in the US have successfully spoofed a murder victim’s fingerprints in order to gain access to his smartphone. It’s result of a collaboration recently initiated with Michigan State University biometrics researcher Dr. Anil Jain, one of the world’s most well-respected biometrics experts. Police believed that the murder victim’s Samsung Galaxy S6 may contain clues…
A federal judge ordered an accused pimp to unlock his iPhone via Touch ID fingerprint scan in 2013, unsealed court documents reveal. As 9to5Mac reports, this is only the second known federal case in which a suspect has been ordered to unlock a device via fingerprint scan, an order that some warn could be unconstitutional,…
Police have reached out to an academic researcher to help them unlock a murder victim’s smartphone via fingerprint scan, believing that the device may contain clues about who killed him. As for the identity of the academic, it’s none other than Michigan State University’s Dr. Anil Jain, whose biometric technology has been licensed by NEC Corporation…
HID Global is offering a mid-year update to the 2016 trends the company predicted at the start of the year. Looking at its first prediction—the continuing ‘mobilizing’ of security—the company says there is growing demand for mobile security options. As a recent example, HID Global points to its CityPoint office building deployment in London, which…
The FBI has been running a secret iris scanning program, according to a new report from The Verge. Officially designated a pilot program, it has largely escaped substantial oversight and public knowledge. It began in 2013 as a close collaboration between the federal law enforcement agency and the California Department of Justice, envisioned as a…
Officials with the Rhode Island Division of Motor Vehicles (DMV) are insisting that the organizations is not in talks to share driver data with the FBI, reports the Providence Journal. It’s a response to alarms raised by the American Civil Liberties Union, whose local director asked the Rhode Island DMV Administrator if the organization was…
The Electronic Frontier Foundation has officially filed its comments to the FBI on its request to exempt its biometric Next Generation Identification (NGI) program from certain provisions of America’s national Privacy Act. The EFF has some objections. In a post on its NGI exemption comments, the civil liberties advocacy group says the NGI has been…
The International Biometrics + Identity Association (IBIA) is throwing its support behind the National Telecommunications and Information Administration’s “Privacy Best Practice Recommendations For Commercial Facial Recognition Use”. The guidelines were published just last week. While the potential applications and use cases of facial recognition technology are too varied for highly specific best practices, the NTIA document…
The FBI has developed a powerful biometric identification system without proper oversight, according to a new report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO). The report has revealed the FBI’s FACE—Facial Analysis, Comparison, and Evaluation—program, a facial recognition system that scans images obtained from civilian databases. FACE has access to over 411.9 million images collected from…
Privacy advocates are warning about the dangers posed by unregulated use of biometric technology in the wake of recent legal maneuvering in the US government. Just ahead of the Memorial Day weekend, a bill was introduced into the Illinois General Assembly aimed at altering the Illinois Biometric Privacy Act so that its provisions would only apply…
Members of the European Parliament are calling for improvements to the proposed Privacy Shield agreement governing data transfers between the EU and the US. MEPs recently voted 501-119 (with 31 abstentions) in favor of a non-binding resolution urging that deficiencies revolving around privacy and redress issues be remedied. More specifically, the MEPs feel that the current…
A new report from the UK’s Biometrics Commissioner is highlighting the complexities of managing biometric data. In the particular case of Alastair MacGregor QC’s investigation, it has become apparent that the records of hundreds of individuals suspected to be terrorists have been deleted, due in large part to technical issues. Current legislation requires that biometric data collected…
A Russian app that searches a popular social networking site to match faces to smartphone photos is proving increasingly popular in its home country. Called FindFace, the app was recently highlighted in an art project that used it to match pictures of Moscow subway riders to their profiles on the VKontakte social network. It’s based on…
Shutterfly has come to terms with an Illinois man who had filed a lawsuit against the company’s use of biometric identification with respect to his person. The plaintiff argued that Shutterfly’s use of biometric identification on his image, which was uploaded to the site by a third party, violated his privacy rights as he had…
Today marked the occasion of our exclusive webinar event Mobile Revolution 2.0: Biometrics, Smartphones, IoT, which brought together an expert panel to discuss the current outlook on the mobile biometrics industry. The webcast begins with Acuity Market Intelligence principal Maxine Most presenting her latest findings pertaining to mobility, biometrics and identity. Most then joined co-panelists…
India’s ruling government is attempting to pass legislation that will leverage the data associated with its Aadhaar program for security purposes. Aadhaar is, of course, the country’s national citizen ID program, which has now collected the biographic and biometric data of nearly a billion citizens. The program’s initial aim was to make the distribution of…
A new report from Britain’s Commissioner for the Retention and Use of Biometric Material has shed light on UK authorities’ collection of biometric evidence, and raised some eyebrows. The report revealed that a national counter-terrorism database contains biometric data—DNA and fingerprint samples—of about 7,800 persons. It also illustrated the effects of 2012 legislation requiring the…
Google has now fallen into the same legal trap that ensnared Facebook and Shutterfly. The company now faces a lawsuit over alleged violations of Illinois legislation covering biometrics and privacy. The lawsuit pertains to Google’s use of facial recognition with its Google Photos app. A Chicago resident claims that a user took multiple photos of…
The Scottish Government says it will not finance a facial recognition system for soccer stadiums. It’s a blow to plans first announced last month, when the Scottish Professional Football League put forward the idea as a security measure in the wake of unruly fan behavior; the idea would be to use it to automatically flag…
As US and EU Commission negotiators work to develop their Privacy Shield agreement on data transfer standards, the International Biometrics + Identity Association (IBIA) has issued a statement calling for a “strong, mutually beneficial, easily understood privacy system” that “will help kindle a sense of trust in matters requiring sharing of critically important data such as…
Keeping the momentum going from last week’s World Privacy Day, the Biometrics Institute has published a set of Biometrics Privacy Guidelines. The publication builds on the international non-profit’s Privacy Awareness Checklist. In a statement announcing the Biometrics Privacy Guidelines, Biometrics Institute Chief Executive Isabelle Moeller explained that it’s meant “to provide a guide for suppliers,…
A new web app is helping to highlight the major security dangers of the Internet of Things. Called Shodan, it’s essentially a search engine with hacking capabilities. It scans the internet for connected IoT devices with open ports and no authentication, then hooks up to them to provide live webcam feeds of everything from marijuana…
The FIDO Alliance has issued a new FIDO Privacy White Paper to mark this year’s Data Privacy Day. The publication explains how FIDO’s protocols and specifications help to protect user privacy; as the consortium put it in a synopsis, “there is no privacy with security.” FIDO points to recent research on data breaches indicating that…
Facebook has won an important lawsuit over its collection of biometric data. The case was brought forward by Illinois resident Frederick William Gullen, who cited state legislation requiring that companies obtain individuals’ consent before capturing their biometric data. Gullen’s image was uploaded to the site by a friend, who tagged his name to the picture,…
Last year was one of unprecedented visibility for biometric technology. With major innovations in mobility and consumer electronics bringing post-password tech to the masses, and with the increased international threat of terrorism once again spurring on the initiatives to biometrically secure borders, biometrics were among the mainstream topics of 2015. But with increased optics comes…
A federal judge has ruled that a court case against Shutterfly over its collection and storage of biometric data can proceed. It’s a blow to the photo sharing company, which had previously asked for a dismissal when the case was brought forward by a Chicago resident upset about Shutterfly software’s automatic identification of him, using facial recognition…
The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has approved a biometric authentication system for the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Rule (COPPA), a piece of federal legislation detailing parental consent requirements for online operators, according to a new update from Lexology. The biometric system, first proposed by Jest8 Limited, revolves around facial recognition. To provide consent for…
FindBiometrics president Peter O’Neill recently had the chance to speak with Joe Rosenkantz, CEO of FaceFirst. The facial recognition company had an excellent 2015, and with the year coming to a close, O’Neill got the CEO’s perspective on what has been driving this success. The conversation spans a range of topics: biometrics in law enforcement and…
The United Arab Emirates’ Ministry of Interior is working on technology that could allow police cars to automatically scan the faces of pedestrians in search of wanted criminals. The system was demonstrated as a proof of concept at the Gitex Technology Week 2015 event in Dubai last week. It’s currently being tested and refined by…