Biometric Border Control, Document Liveness, and Big Series D: 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:

CBP Brings Facial Recognition to Another Sea Port

US Customs and Border Protection has brought its biometric border control to the Port of Boston, through a partnership with Norwegian Cruise Lines. Facial recognition technology is now in place for the debarkation process, with those exiting the ship being asked to submit to a face scan that will match them against their passport or visa picture. US travelers and certain foreign nationals have the option to opt out of the process and proceed with a conventional identity check. It is the latest sea port deployment after the CBP brought its face-scanning system to Jacksonville, Florida, last month.

Turkish Opposition Candidate Promises Visa-free Travel

Turkey’s opposition leader, Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, is promising citizens visa-free travel to Europe’s Schengen zone if he wins an election slate for May 14. At the moment, Turkey is on politically friendly terms with the European Union, but is not a member, and is not part of the Schengen area enabling free travel for citizens of member states. Enabling visa-free travel would theoretically grant Turks with biometric passports access to the same kind of travel enjoyed by Schengen members, and may involve new requirements for Turkey’s own border control measures. Kılıçdaroğlu is currently thought to be in a highly competitive race against incumbent President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

Vision-Box Provides Airport Biometrics Tech for Vietnam

Vision-Box is the biometric technology partner for the Vietnamese government’s new airport screening project. The company has revealed that it is providing face- and fingerprint-scanning automated border control gates to five of the country’s airports, as well as a self-service kiosks and what Vision-Box describes as “a manual border control solution” that also features biometric capture capabilities. The announcement comes after government authorities disclosed a biometric screening pilot at the Cat Bi International Airport last month. In a statement, Vision-Box Head of Global Business Development Pedro Pinto called the project “a significant milestone” in the company’s international business.

ID.me Discloses Series D Funding, Names CFO

ID.me has raised $132 million in a Series D funding round led by Viking Global Investors, with additional contributions from CapitalG, FTV Capital, Morgan Stanley Counterpoint, PSP Growth, Auctus Investment Group, Moonshots Capital, and Scout Ventures. The company says total investments since its founding in 2010 amount to over $240 million. The funding round concluded several months ago but has only now been disclosed, with CEO Blake Hall telling the Washington Business Journal that announcing the funding when the round closed “would have been a distraction.” ID.me is aiming for profitability in 2024.

ID.me has disclosed the funding alongside its announcement of the appointment of Samantha Greenberg as its new Chief Financial Officer. Greenberg has previously held positions with major financial institutions like Citadel and Goldman Sachs, and most recently led financial operations at Mint House, with duties including planning and analysis related to capital markets, investor relations, and mergers & acquisitions. ID.me noted that Greenberg is “a frequent presenter on technology trends” for outlets including Bloomberg BusinessWeek and CNBC’s “Delivering Alpha”.

AuthenticID Launches Document Liveness Solution

AuthenticID has announced a new liveness detection solution for identity documents, offering a complement to the liveness solutions aimed at biometrics during a remote identity verification session. The company’s document liveness solution is designed to detect attempts to present digital images of an ID rather than the genuine article during a given session, and AuthenticID says it can do so in a matter of milliseconds. The system analyzes “hundreds of data points and trace evidence that could escape human detection”, the company says. The solution’s launch comes after AuthenticID joined the FIDO Alliance earlier this year.

Zerify Gets New Reseller, Client

Visualnet Media has become a reseller of secure video conferencing specialist Zerify, and has already netted the company a new customer – Rosa & Co., a drug development advisory firm. The latter was in search of a client meetings solution that could be GDPR and PCI compliant, and arrived at Zerify Meet, which includes support for biometric authentication to regulate access to video meetings. Visualnet Media, meanwhile, offers a solution for hosting corporate assets remotely in a manner compliant with privacy and data protection regulations.

Wearables Algorithm Calculates ‘Biological Age’

Atlanta-based LifeQ has developed a new algorithm that purportedly shows end users their “biological age” based on fitness-tracking data collected from their smartwatch devices. The LifeQ platform is compatible with one or more wearable devices from a wide range of brands including Motorola, Montblanc, Samsung, and Xiaomi. “Your BioAge is a true, comprehensive reflection of your physiological state as it is today,” asserted LifeQ’s Chief Science Officer, Dr. Franco du Preez.

AUO Brings Automotive Biometrics to New Smart Cockpit

Taiwan-based AUO, a company focused on optoelectronics, has announced a new “smart cockpit” solution for automotive vehicles that features built-in facial recognition, which is used both for driver recognition and to scan the driver for signs of fatigue. While the latter application is aimed at road safety, driver recognition will automatically adjust car settings to the driver’s preferences. AUO will showcase its solution at the Touch Taiwan 2023 Display International Exhibition from April 19 to 21.

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April 11, 2023 – by Alex Perala

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