onClick Biometrics in touch

Facial recognition to get a makeover.

Facial recognition is evolving everywhere. Scientists are taking the basic technology that exists today and running with it. Running to their labs that is.

These guys are collecting a database of expressions to create a program that can decipher emotion and moods. They actually need faces so, if you're in the St. Louis area, hook a scientist up!

And then there's a company making facial and 'object' recognition for cell phones and consumer electronics. They are also building an extensive database, this one filled with everything. Supposedly the technology will be able to identify any object you take a picture of. Comes in handy if you have short term memory loss I guess... among other things.

Teleconference Today

Another short notice, but here's the summary of IBG's teleconference today:

I would like to extend an invitation for you to participate in IBG's monthly teleconference series today, December 9, at 1 pm ET. In these teleconferences, IBG will explore current topics in the biometrics industry and address questions such as:

- What is behind Queen Elizabeth's endorsement of biometric cards in her latest speech?
- How is the TSA securing the transportation network in the US with biometrics? 
- How can biometrics be used to protect your bank account?

This month's teleconference series features three topics. Participants can select from any of the following three tracks, which will be broadcast live in 30-minute intervals:

BRITAIN GOES BIOMETRIC: UK NATIONAL ID CARD PROJECT (1:00 PM ET)
Earlier this summer amid much controversy and public scrutiny, UK Home Secretary David Blunkett first unveiled his vision for a biometrically-enabled national ID card system for the UK citizen population.  As the Queen and Prime Minister Tony Blair both recently endorsed the national ID card scheme in conjunction with the publication of supporting legislation, the national identity program
appears to be underway in the UK.  Tune in to hear more about the prospects and specifics of the UK national ID card program and in particular, the various issues surrounding an application of
biometrics of such scale. 

CHECKING IN WITH BIOMETRICS: BIOMETRICS IN THE TRAVEL AND TRANSPORTATION INDUSTRY (1:30 PM ET)
Although high-profile projects such as the US-VISIT program have garnered much of the international attention for the large-scale use of biometrics, the travel and transportation sector has also hosted a series of less publicized applications of biometrics. During this segment, learn more about the latest deployments of biometrics in the US and Asia for both travelers and transportation industry workers. 

BANKING ON BIOMETRICS:  HOW COMMERCIAL BANKS ARE USING BIOMETRICS (2:00 PM ET)
Commercial banks have historically expressed interest in biometrics as a viable solution for securing and enhancing the services rendered to customers.  The latest developments from Bancafe Bank in Colombia indicate a growing interest on the part of the international banking community. Hear more about the background of biometrics in commercial bank settings in addition to the latest biometric installments in banks around the world and the future trends for biometrics within this space. 

There is no fee to participate in IBG's teleconference series.
To dial in: Please call 212-931-9772
Visit http://www.biometricgroup.com/webconferences.html for further access details.

US Consumers say: Bring it on!

A survey sponsored by AuthenTec found out something. Imagine that. No really, based on 2,000 responses - from adults no less - U.S. consumers appear to be willing to pay for the security that fingerprint biometrics can offer. Specifically, 63% said they would use biometrics for their PCs and laptops, and 71% would use the feature in their cell phones.

What's interesting is that in Asia 4 million biometric cell phones are already in use, and here we are posting about every new fingerprint enabled phone that comes our way like it's breaking news. The US definitely needs to step up. The people have spoken!

Albeit, it is a survey sponsored by a manufacturer, which to me always lessens the validity of it. AuthenTec is a great brand, but they did this to promote their products. When vendors/manufacturers have their hand in research surveys, it could always be a little biased.

Here are the survey findings yanked directly from the article.

In the PC and notebook computer segment, the survey shows that:

Younger consumers (18-44) are the most interested and are willing to pay the highest price for a biometrically-enabled device. 

Parents also showed a higher interest than non parents in adding the feature to PCs than non-parents - at 75 percent versus 58 percent.

43 percent are most interested in using fingerprint sensors to replace their computer or internet passwords

Navigating the cursor and automatically starting favorite programs were other key capabilities consumers were interested in using.

Three in ten (29 percent) said they would be willing to pay more than $25 for the additional feature.

In the wireless segment, the survey shows that:

71 percent are interested in adding fingerprint sensors to protect their sensitive and personal information stored on their cellular phone.

Overall, 32 percent would be willing to spend more than $25 to have the feature added to their cell phones, while nearly half (45 percent) of young adults (18-24) indicated they are willing to pay more than $25.

60 percent said they would like to use biometrically-enabled cellular phones as a replacement for their wallets - debit cards or credit cards -- to conduct purchases or online banking. Nearly half of those said they would be interested in using a biometric cell phone to purchase items from a store, while 30 percent for wireless banking, 27 percent to gain access to mass transit, and 25 percent for wireless shopping.

Parents, younger adults, and men are the most interested in using the cell phones as a replacement for their wallets.

New Mexico works to make the state inhospitable to identity thieves

New Mexico is launching a campaign to educate on identity theft. The state was ranked 13th in the amount of crimes committed, so rationalizing $200,000 from the Securities Division to cover the campaign should seem worth it. It all began on December 4th with an hour long TV special.

In due time, enough states will be investing their money to the cause, and creating such a ruckus about curbing identity theft that maybe a national organization will be created. A non-profit help center for minimizing loss and capturing the culprits.

(In the meantime, there are companies that exist to provide identity theft insurance and such, like Identity Theft 911.)

New campaign to inform about identity theft.

While you're there...

A workshop will be held in Belgium late January by the BioSec consortium. This is their second workshop, to be themed 'Biometrics in everyday applications'.

More news on it here.

Dilbert on passwords

Click on the picture for a larger image.

A refresher course - Biometrics 101

Once again, if you are new to this weblog and your knowledge on biometrics is a little fuzzy, take the time to read this article that will kinda catch you up. It relates to biometrics in the workplace, and what types and in what instances they are used.

You could, of course, just visit our 'About Biometrics' section on our corporate site, but if you want something super fresh (i.e. published yesterday), read this.

Biometrics: From science fiction to business reality.

New DHS Leader?

Awaiting consent of the Senate is President Bush's nomination for replacement of Tom Ridge. That would be former New York City police commisioner Bernard Kerik. He has been a part of the efforts relating to 9/11 and terrorism since well, 9/11, so this should be nothing new to him.
Bush nominates Kerik for Homeland Security.

Keep the 'bad man' out.

It's good to be involved in an industry that can provide people with something they really need. Such as security. And security for young children is even better. There's an organization in Florida that provides therapy to children up to five years old with disabilities - and they've begun a project to prevent unauthorized visitors from gaining access to the facility. They are using fingerprint to identify parents, staff, volunteers and vendors. It appears that this is a pilot program that this particular organization was selected for. No idea what the full intent of the program is. Likely just a test to see if biometrics used for child protection shows enough interest.
Read the press release.

Visiting an inmate? Don't forget your thumb

First, I would just like to gripe about newspapers online that don't label their location in an obvious spot. Don't they know that people come in back doors all the time, like google? I'm not a regular reader, but if a particular story interests me, I would like to know where the heck the story is taking place!

That aside, a jail in South Australia has invested their time and money into thumb recognition for visitors and prisoners as an added safety feature. $8 million gets them  a vistor center that identifies the participants and a detector that can find even the smallest of metal on a person. Guess you can forget about slipping the inmate a key and nail file in a homemade cake.

$8m visiting section for jail.