Detroit’s Facial Recognition Decision, Voter e-ID in Singapore, and Yet Another Worldcoin Investigation – 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:

Argentina Regulator Announces Worldcoin Investigation

The Argentine Agency for Access to Public Information (AAIP) has become the latest state regulator to announce an investigation into Worldcoin, the startup building a global digital identity platform based on blockchain and biometric technologies. The AAIP says entities like Worldcoin are required to register with the regulator and to detail their security and privacy protection measures; Worldcoin says it complies with all applicable laws and regulations wherever it operates. The AAIP hasn’t said whether Worldcoin appears to have violated its rules, but noted in a statement that the startup had gained “public notoriety” after scanning the eyes of registrants in various cities.

Detroit Police Commissioners Vote to Maintain Facial Recognition Use

Detroit’s Board of Police Commissioners has voted 5-3 to continue using facial recognition, with stronger guidelines in place after the technology helped lead to the wrongful arrest of a pregnant woman who was falsely accused of being involved in a robbery and carjacking. In addressing the Board, Police Chief James White said the case was primarily the result of poor judgement on the part of an investigator, whose conduct is now under scrutiny, and said that facial recognition technology had been critical in helping to solve 16 of the city’s 161 homicide cases this year. New guidelines are meant to ensure that a facial recognition match alone does not provide the foundation for an arrest.

Singapore to Allow Digital ID in Presidential Election

Singaporeans will officially be able to use Singpass, the country’s mobile ID app, as proof of identity when voting in the city-state’s upcoming presidential election. Voters will still have the option of instead using their physical national ID card, of course; but it’s the latest sign of the growing ubiquity of Singpass, which uses facial recognition technology to verify user identity. All government agencies have been required to recognize Singpass in online transactions since November of 2021; and more recently, Singpass has been outfitted with support for digital licenses for bus and taxi drivers, and approved for use as an e-Passport for travelers from neighboring Malaysia starting in 2024.

Trust Stamp Builds Patent Portfolio

The United States Patent and Trademark Office has approved another IP filing from Trust Stamp: Patent # 11,741,263, “Systems and Processes for Lossy Biometric Representation”. The patent pertains to Trust Stamp’s solution for the tokenization of biometric images and templates. It’s Trust Stamp’s 17th patent, and the company has another 14 application pending. The news comes after Trust Stamp President Andrew Gowasack announced a 31 percent increase in the company’s customer base for the first half of the year. Trust Stamp will publish its full results for the second quarter next week.

Incode Gets Kantara Trust Mark

Incode Technologies has attained the Kantara Initiative Trust Mark. The Kantara Initiative is a non-profit that assesses identity services’ conformance with NIST 800-63-3, a National Institute of Standards and Technology standard pertaining to federal agencies and their assessment of risk with respect to identity management activities. In announcing the Trust Mark certification, Incode CEO Ricardo Amper highlighted the IAL2 component of NIST 800-63-3 in particular, which concerns remote or in-person identity-proofing, saying compliance “affirms Incode’s dedication to providing solutions that put people first, foster equitable access and ‘Power a World of Trust’.”

After Corporate Overhaul, AuthID Issues Q2 Update

AuthID has issued a business update for the second quarter of 2023. Revenues came in at roughly $40k, compared to revenues of about $70k in Q2 of 2022, with the decrease attributed to the discontinuation of a legacy authentication product. But operating expenses were down from $6 million a year ago to $2.8 million in the latest quarter, and Adjusted EBITDA improved from a loss of $3 million in Q2 of 2022 to a loss of $1.7 million in Q2 of this year. The company is under a substantially new management team this year, thanks to a significant corporate overhaul that began in March.

–

August 11, 2023 – by Alex Perala