onClick Biometrics in touch

Go learn more than you ever wanted to know in September

I haven't posted about any events in a while, so here goes.
The Biometric Consortium Conference is about to round the corner again. Here's a snipet:

The September 2004 Biometric Consortium Conference will address the latest trends in biometrics research, development, testing and application of biometric technologies.
It also plans to address the important role that biometrics can play in the identification and verification of individuals in this age of heightened security and privacy by examining biometric-based solutions for homeland security (airport security, travel documents, visas, border control, prevention of ID theft) as well as the utilization of biometrics in other applications such as point of sale and large-scale enterprise network environments. A special Research Session will include presentation of academic research and a Poster Session.
This conference is co-sponsored by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST); the National Security Agency (NSA); the National Biometric Security Project (NBSP); the DoD Biometrics Management Office (BMO); The National Institute of Justice (NIJ); the West Virginia Development Office (WVDO); the General Services Administration (GSA) Office of Electronic Government and Technology, Office of Governmentwide Policy and the National Science Foundation (NSF).

Event info.

This blog is private

For those of you obsessed educating yourselves on privacy, here's a blog that rounds up all the privacy-focused news articles daily. Funny thing is, I do a search for 'biometrics' and just about nothing comes up.
Privacy Digest.

Yeah yeah, the airport thing, got it.

I promise, this will be the last article about the same old airport projects for a while. It's just that... this seems to be all that anyone is talking about right now.
At least this one covers a little bit of all the projects going on world-wide, including a newly mentioned Paris airport biometric test.
Airports turn to fingerprinting, biometrics for security.

Only she knows for sure...

This is kinda off the beaten path, but determining whether a signature is forged would have a lot to say for the case against Brenda Andrew, who is on trial for the death of her husband. He could have been killed for his life insurance policy, which prosecutors are saying was forged to look like the husband transfered the policy to her.
I would say this could have been a good time to implement a biometric signature, but in this case, even a reliable witness for the agency would have done the trick.
Andrew insurance policy forged.

Your turn Japan

More interest in biometrics for immigration control, this time in Japan. All on their own they decided to make biometric-enabled passports to fulfill the need for tighter immigration control after realizing that they are not excluded from the al Qaeda 'Trading Spaces' tour.
Japan eyes biometrics to tighten immigration steps.

Biometric use #3,489

Here is a handbag. It will only really deter pickpockets, otherwise if someone steals the bag you could just cut it open.
BUT - In consideration of all the fuss about keeping computers protected that house our names, addresses, social security numbers and account information, how are handbags any different? They have all that stuff too, including probably even a photo of yourself. All good stuff. So do what you can, especially when living in a big city and always being submersed in crowds.
Handbag scanner to deter thieves.

IBIA - US decisions

The IBIA newsletter is out again.
The articles in this issue are “The U.S. House Votes to Fund the Big US-VISIT Contract Won by Accenture to Help Secure U.S. Borders," “The U.S. House Votes to Grant Visa-Waiver Countries a Year Longer to Deploy Biometrically-Enabled Passports,” and “The U.S. State Department Affirms that Biometrically-Enabled U.S. Passports Won’t Begin to Be Issued Until 2005."

That's a mouthtype-full.

Because everybody needs rules

One setback haunting biometric technology from time to time is the absence of standards. Usually this is the case in large deployments, such as the National ID card and immigration control projects. Every fingerprint sensor, for example, can be different, and hardware from different vendors may not co-exist successfully. Also, FRR (false rejection rate) and FAR (false acceptance rate) and such specifics of the devices and their software aren't always the same, making research a long process. If requirements are set, customers (i.e. government) will know exactly what to expect from a fingerprint, iris, hand, etc. device.
From Computerweekly.com:

The British Standards Institute is leading the development of the international biometric technology standards that will underpin the government's plans for a national ID card system and immigration controls at airports.
The standards, due to be published next year, will lay down the first internationally agreed data formats for fingerprint, iris and facial recognition system.
International collaboration on the standards has followed pressure from the US for the worldwide adoption of biometric passports following the 11 September terrorist attacks.
"Although political pressure is certainly expediting this process, there is also growing demand from the biometric and IT industry itself to develop an ISO standard," said Mike Low, director at the British Standards Institute.
The standards will make it easier for businesses to implement biometric systems and to understand the reliability of different identity verification systems, he said.
BSI leads work on biometric standards.

EU leads the way

Many stories have been coming out of the EU lately, mainly to discuss the value that biometrics may or may not offer. They seem to be in the stage of wonderment that the US will come to shortly as our own passports begin showing signs of fingerprints and iris.

On Monday, Martin Walshe, the chairman of the European Biometrics Forum, told the inaugural EU Presidency Summit on Biometrics that the emerging technology can enhance the lives of citizens. He acknowledged, however, European concerns about data protection and privacy.
Biometrics benefits individuals: expert.

This article gives me an image of countries posing as some cartoonish children's superheroes, clinking snazzy rings together in order to change into the Mighty Morphin Terrorist Fighters!

British police will almost certainly be given access in the near future to US intelligence databases containing DNA samples, fingerprints and digital images of thousands of foreign nationals seized around the world by the US as terror suspects.
Biometrics - great hope for world security or triumph for Big Brother?

Where's the one for 'nose'?

So what happened to all those other biometric identifiers you randomly hear about? Why are fingerprints and iris scans the only thing you read about in the paper these days?
They're still around. It's just that technology like odor recognition might not be as popular, for obvious reasons.
Ear, Iris, Odour: search for the perfect system.