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Supreme Court to hear police DNA-collection case
The United States Supreme Court last week granted certiorari in Maryland v. King; in the case, Maryland law enforcement stands to lose the right to require a DNA collection as part of booking procedures for certain felony crimes; a similar law was passed by Congress in 2004 for federal arrests, and twenty-four other state legislatures have also passed such laws
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New strategy for fingerprint visualization
Identifying fingerprints on paper is a commonly used method in police forensic work, but it is not easy to make those fingerprints visible. Now, scientists have developed a new approach for making such fingerprints more readily readable
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Face-recognition e-Gate at Amsterdam airport moving passengers at rapid pace
E-Gate, the automated border control system developed by Accenture and Vision-Box for the Netherlands Ministry of Internal Affairs, is on target to process its one-millionth passenger at Schiphol Airport in December
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Aussie banks considering biometric security
Australia’s major banks are considering a move to biometric security systems in an effort to boost security for their customers; the banks are changing their systems as a way for customers to keep their money and valuables safe without ATM cards
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Biometric technologies adopted by more Australian banks
The use of face-recognition biometrics technology will soon become main stream in Australian banks, and may even be used in conjunction with other technologies; in a survey, 79 percent of Australians said that they were comfortable with fingerprint technology replacing banking PINs
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Law enforcement can store, identify millions of voice samples using new software
Everyone this day can be identified by a fingerprint, DNA, or even a picture. Now, with the help of a Russian company, the FBI will soon be using voice recognition to identify people; the FBI says voice biometrics will be a “reliable and consistent means of identification for use in remote recognition”
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Voice verification technology prevents impersonators from obtaining voiceprints
Computer users have learned to preserve their privacy by safeguarding passwords, but with the rise of voice authentication systems, they also need to protect unique voice characteristics; researchers say this is possible with a system they developed which converts a user’s voiceprint into something akin to passwords
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"Cognitive fingerprints" for bolstering computer passwords
It will not make passwords passé, but researchers intends to use “cognitive fingerprints” to make sure you are you, and not an imposter; a novel software-based authentication tool called covert-conditioned biometrics will attempt to use a unique sequence of problem-solving moves to distinguish between a legitimate user and an identity thief
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Border Patrol kiosk detects liars trying to enter U.S.
The U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is using border crossing stations in Arizona to test new technology to detect liars as they attempt to enter the country; travelers are subjected to a 5-minute interview with the kiosk, while microphones monitor vocal pitch frequency and quality, an infrared camera monitors eye movement and pupil dilation, and a high definition camera monitors facial expression
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New biometrics discipline -- foot biometrics – for security, disease detection
Identity science takes a giant, well, step forward with a new discipline in biometrics: foot biometrics; researchers at the new $1.5 million per year Pedo-Biometrics Research and Identity Automation Lab will test insole sensory system prototypes for a variety of identification uses, from security to detecting the onset of such diseases as diabetes and Parkinson’s
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Francisco Partners acquires biometrics provider Cross Match Technologies
Francisco Partners, a technology-focused private equity firm, has acquired Cross Match Technologies, Inc., a provider of interoperable biometric identity management systems, applications, and services
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New research raises questions about iris recognition systems
Since the early days of iris recognition technologies, it has been assumed that the iris was a “stable” biometric over a person’s lifetime — “one enrollment for life”; researchers find, however, that iris biometric enrollment is susceptible to an aging process that causes recognition performance to degrade slowly over time
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Voice recognition capabilities at the FBI -- from the 1960s to the present
Chris Archer, the online content editor at IDGA (the Institute for Defense & Government Advancement), talked with Hirotaka Nakasone, a senior scientist in the FBI’s Voice Recognition Program; Nakasone examines the use and effectiveness of current speaker authentication technologies at the FBI; highlights the various challenges which are unique to voice recognition, and discusses what plans are in place for capturing voice recordings in line with the FBI’s Next Generation Identification (NGI project)
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Not taking faces at face value
Photographs of faces may not be adequate proof of a person’s identity and this could have serious implications for the accuracy of passport photographs in determining identity
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Biometrics proves 1 percent of applicants to enter U.S. are unsuitable
Chris Archer, the online content editor at IDGA (the Institute for Defense & Government Advancement), talked with James Loudermilk, Senior Level Technologist, FBI Science and Technology Branch, about biometrics and biometrics and homeland security; Loudermilk says that biometrics applications helped the FBI determine that about 1 percent of people who seek visa to visit the United States as tourists have previously done things that make them unsuitable guests; the conversation examines the application of biometrics for homeland security, issues relating to privacy and civil liberties, and what can be learned from international biometrics projects, including India’s UID scheme
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