onClick Biometrics in touch

Superbowl: a local holiday

Here in Houston it's hard to find anyone putting in a full day's work. Downtown has been closed off to become the biggest block party this city has probably seen.

I myself went on Wednesday just to say I did something... superbowlish. Somewhat advanced in the way they distributed their armbands, they made sure no one under age got in by swiping driver's licenses, and having the arm bands printed with your name and a huge 'AGE Verified' next to it.

This weekend is going to be a madhouse.

US-VISIT - exemptions, deadlines, and testimonies, oh my!

Here's something interesting:
Officials were adamant that fingerprinting and photos would only add moments to the regular process. But alas, they weren't exactly right.
Now they may exempt certain groups of people to speed things up. It's not a sure thing, but if lines get any longer, it may just come to pass.
U.S. had plans to suspend biometric border.

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Remember that October 2004 deadline we've talked about before? Turns out most countries are probably going to miss it.
More about it at CNN and the Rocky Mountain Telegram.

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A representative of IBG gave testimony as to the status of the program to the Houston Select Committee on Homeland Security.
The press release.

National ID card

A national ID card could be coming.
Actually, it may be more of a modification to an existing ID - your driver's license.
ComputerWorld's take on it.
Check out the chart on the bottom about what biometrics might be added to the ID.

More blog changes

This time, the categories were changed to reflect the topics most commonly covered here. There are a bunch more to narrow down searches, and almost all of the posts in the categories are double linked to the 'All Articles' section.
This might be a little more helpful when you are trying to find something specific.

Angry much? The software is listening.

New software can recognize if a person is angry based on voice fluctuations.
I could understand how this would help if consumers are accessing an automated system that requires them to speak their choices instead of key them in, but where is the software that determines a person's mood based on how hard they jam their finger into the keys to make choices?

Security spending up

By the numbers.

Banking on Biometrics

The focus of From Face to Fingerprint today will be on biometric trends in the banking industry.

January 27, 2004 (Rebroadcast 12 hours later)
2:00 p.m. Pacific time 3:00 p.m. Mountain 4:00 p.m. Central 5:00 p.m. Eastern

on VoiceAmerica

US-VISIT vs. Brazil

Shortly after US-VISIT began, Brazil retaliated with a like system. The US was actually hoping that this system would encourage other countries to do the same, but the reasons in which Brazil took action weren't short of a five year old rebelling against bedtime.
Here's the update -
Tourists are pawns in Brazil-U.S. security spat.

RFID Soccer

From Gizmodo:
Somewhere in Germany are researchers working feverishly to be the first to come out with an RFID soccer ball.
Not only that, but they want to put the tags in the player's clothing. They expect this will help referees, as well as create a real time report of player's paths, accelerations, speeds and what not.

Here is the article translated in english.

Glossary of biometric terms

We've begun a glossary on our educational pages. Common words or phrases that are used to describe biometrics are explained so that everyone will now know exactly what they are talking about.

The glossary!