Bumbling Into More BIPA Trouble – 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:

DoD IG Report Finds Need for Biometric Data Policies

A new report from the Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Defense finds that the DoD has been inconsistent in the information security controls applied to devices used for biometric data collection. It also notes that the DoD doesn’t have policies concerning the “sanitization” of biometric data when such devices are disposed of. The Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security has already started working on policies to standardize encryption, data protection, and sanitization, and a directive implementing them is expected to arrive in Q1 of 2025.

Collins Aerospace to Provide Biometric Tech for Guam Airport

Collins Aerospace has won a contract to provide Guam International Airport (GUM) with solutions to streamline passenger processing, including a biometric identity management system called SelfPass, which uses facial recognition to match a traveler to their passport and boarding pass. Collins Aerospace will also provide ARINC BagLink, a baggage sorting system, and ARINC cMUSE, its self-check in solution. GUM’s Deputy Executive Manager, Artemio Hernandez, said the technology would “assist in conforming to US CBP requirements,” a reference to US Customs and Border Protection.

NATO Chief Warns of China’s Prominence in Biometric Surveillance, Digital ID

NATO’s Secretary General, Jens Stoltenberg, warned colleagues about the risks of integrating Chinese technology into digital infrastructure at the alliance’s inaugural Cyber Defense Conference in Berlin. Stoltenberg highlighted China’s global exports of surveillance technologies including facial recognition, and added that China “is also proposing new internet protocols at the United Nations, to challenge the very notion of a free and open cyberspace.” The state-owned telecom China Mobile proposed a “Digital Identity System” for the metaverse to the UN’s International Telecommunications Union this past summer.

Bumble Stumbles Into Another BIPA Lawsuit

Another lawsuit has been filed against the dating app Bumble over its use of facial recognition technology for user identity verification. Plaintiff Ashley Ott alleges that Bumble violated Illinois’s Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA) by failing to disclose to users its data retention policy in writing. This comes after Bumble lost its bid to get a similar class action lawsuit, filed by plaintiff Dario Dzananovic, dismissed this past summer. Yet another lawsuit filed against Bumble concerns another of its dating apps, Badoo, which is also accused of violating BIPA with a selfie-based identity verification feature.

Nigerian NGO Claims Voting Machine Malfunctions ‘Disenfranchised’ Voters

A Nigerian civil society organization (CSO), the “Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room”, is claiming that malfunctioning voter identification equipment disenfranchised some would-be voters in recent governorship elections. The Bimodal Voters Accreditation System, or BVAS, machines are designed to authenticate Permanent Voter Cards and can scan fingerprints and faces. “A number of eligible voters were disenfranchised following incidents of BVAS malfunctioning,” a representative of the CSO told journalists in a briefing. The CSO also found that in some cases polling units did not open by 8:30 a.m. as required.

Daon Invests in R&D Amid Revenue Dip

Daon has delivered an update for its latest fiscal quarter, showing a dip in revenues, which came in at nearly €11.2 million, compared to €12.2 million in the same quarter last year. The company’s overall result was an after-tax profit of €219,627, compared to an after-tax profit of €253,258 a year ago. Daon also said its average monthly number of employees was down from 34 a year ago to 32 in the latest quarter; nevertheless, it has slightly expanded its research and development efforts, to which it committed €750,663 in the latest quarter, up from €744,377 in the same period last year. Daon has been busy adapting its biometric technology to the rise of generative AI, announcing tools to counter the threat of deepfakes earlier this year.

Texas Cops Use Facial Recognition Technology to Identify Buddhist Temple Thief

Police in the small town of White Settlement, Texas, have used facial recognition to identify a key suspect in the theft of $38,000 in cash from a Buddhist temple. The biometric tech was applied to the Theravada Buddhist Temple’s surveillance system, identifying 36-year-old Narcis Chiciu as the potential ring leader of a group of people are suspected of gaining entry to various places of worship by falsely claiming interest in learning about religious services or wanting to pray, a tactic that White Settlement Police Department Chief Chris Cook described as distasteful.

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November 13, 2023 – by Alex Perala