Big Tech Fights California’s Putative Child Safety Law: Identity News Digest

Welcome to FindBiometrics’ digest of identity industry news. Here’s what you need to know about the world of digital identity and biometrics today:

Tech Giants Sue California Over Online Age Verification Law

A trade association that includes Amazon, Google, Meta, TikTok, and Twitter is suing the state of California to prevent the implementation of the Age-Appropriate Design Code Act (AB 2273), a piece of legislation that would require websites to verify the ages of all visitors. The group, dubbed “NetChoice”, argues that the law turns online service providers into “roving Internet censors”, and that it does more harm than good by forcing websites to track and store users’ information. The law is slated to take effect in 2024.

Voters Don’t Need to Link Aadhaar Numbers, Indian Government Confirms

The Indian government’s law minister, Kiren Rijiju, has confirmed that it is not necessary for citizens to link their Aadhaar numbers to their voter ID cards. Aadhaar is the country’s sprawling biometric national ID program; and this summer India’s Election Commission launched a program to get voter IDs linked to Aadhaar numbers in an effort to shore-up election integrity. There has been reports of voters being told by election officials that they are required to link their Aadhaar numbers, but it remains strictly voluntary.

Singapore’s Changi Airport Enables Group Screening

Singapore has become the first country in the world to enable group traveler screening at the airport, thanks to biometric technology deployed at Special Assistance Lanes in certain passenger halls of the Changi Airport. Family groups of up to four Singaporean citizens or residents can pass through the automated screening lanes by submitting to face and iris scans, with fingerprint scanning available as a backup modality. The functionality is also available for wheelchair users. Authorities plan to extend the availability of group scanning to foreigners next year.

NEC Appoints VP of ARS Operations

NEC Corporation of America has appointed Carmelo Lisciotto as Vice President of Operations for its Advanced Recognition Systems (ARS) business. Lisciotto comes to the company from a previous position as CISO and VP of IT Infrastructure and Cloud Operations for Life Image, a position he held since May of 2018. He has also served in senior IT positions with PerkinElmer, Wipro, and Parexel. In his new role with NECAM, Lisciotto will lead ARS post-deliver operations across law enforcement, government, and digital ID, in addition to overseeing a number of technical operations.

PONE Biometrics Pursues Post-Quantum Cryptography

Norway-based PONE Biometrics has entered into a partnership agreement with Oxford-based PQShield, a post-quantum cryptography (PQC) specialist. PONE is known for its OFFPAD card – essentially a fingerprint-scanning security key for user authentication. The companies’ partnership will see PQShield’s algorithms integrated into OFFPAD, making it quantum-secure.

Aware’s Cloud Solution Deemed SOC 2 Type I Compliant

Aware has achieved SOC 2 Type I compliance with its AwareID authentication platform. The compliance attests to the solution’s adherence to standards concerning security, processing integrity, and privacy, and was confirmed via an audit by Aprio. “This third-party independent validation means Aware is capable and trusted to handling highly sensitive information with the utmost responsibility and protecting customer data,” explained Aware CTO Mohamed Lazzouni.

Keyless Leverages Jumio Tech for Biometric Authentication

Keyless, a passwordless authentication specialist focused on the financial services sector, has partnered with Jumio to add selfie-based authentication to its platform. The biometric system will be offered as an alternative to Keyless’s One-Time Password authentication system. “Financial institutions using Keyless can now strengthen identity assurance across the entire authentication lifecycle, from payment authorization to account recovery, without adding unnecessary complexity to the authentication process and without exposing themselves to risk,” explained Keyless co-founder and COO Fabian Eberle.

IronYun Upgrades Computer Vision Platform

IronYun has announced an update to its Vaidio AI Vision Platform. Vaidio 6.2 supports a range of computer vision capabilities including behavior detection, object detection, and vehicle recognition, as well as facial recognition through IronYun’s Vaidio Edge IoT device. The upgraded platform adds new functionality including cross-camera tracking and detail extraction, and an upgraded “enterprise class federation engine” that is designed to support large-scale deployments, among other new features.

Proctoring or Student Surveillance?

Researchers at Universidad Autónoma de Madrid have developed a uniquely invasive remote proctoring system. Dubbed “Demo-edBB”, it uses computer vision and biometrics to authenticate students based on facial recognition and behavioral biometrics, and to track their gestures, heart rate, and facial expressions. Speaking to TechXplore, one of the researchers said they want to go further, explaining, “we want to amplify our investigation fields into visual attention estimation, gaze tracking, answer prediction, etc.”

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December 16, 2022 – by Alex Perala