Facial Recognition Comes to the Racetrack – 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:

Police Turn to Facial Recognition to Secure F1 Grand Prix

Northamptonshire Police are planning to deploy Live Facial Recognition (LFR), among a number of other security measures, at this weekend’s 2023 Formula 1 Aramco British Grand Prix. The plans have taken shape amid concerns about disruption from protestors affiliated with Just Stop Oil, a group calling for more action to fight climate change. Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton has expressed support for the group, but warned that he wouldn’t want to see anyone climb onto the racetrack. Northamptonshire Police said their LFR system watch watch for wanted criminals and “those who pose a risk of harm to themselves or others”.

Selfie Checks to Help Keep Kids Off of e-Scooters

The British city of Birmingham’s e-scooter rental service will deploy facial recognition to make sure users are at least 18 years of age, following controversy over the fatal accident of a 12-year-old who rented an e-scooter unlocked by a friend. The city’s e-scooter vendor, Beryl, is planning to implement a program of “random selfie checks”. The city’s previous vendor, Voi, had used selfie-based onboarding; but Beryl’s plan is to extend the biometric identity verification process beyond the initial enrollment system, and it may program more frequent checks during times when children are more likely to be out in the street, such as at the end of the school day.

HireRight Takes Controlling Stake in DTIS

HireRight, a provider of background screening and workforce solutions, has taken a majority stake in Digital Trusted Identity Services (“DTIS”), an FBI-approved “channeler” that can send fingerprints to the FBI and process biometric and biographic information. HireRight framed the acquisition as an expansion of its biometric screening capabilities, with implications for its work in regulated industries including healthcare, transportation, and financial services. The remaining minority share of DTIS is held by the American Association of Airport Executives (“AAAE”); DTIS operates the Transportation Security Clearinghouse on AAAE’s behalf to help the organization meet its obligations as a Transportation Security Administration (TSA) Designated Aviation Channeler.

BlockID Comes to NayaOne Marketplace

1Kosmos’s BlockID solution has been added to NayaOne’s eponymous platform of embedded software solutions for the financial services industry. BlockID is an authentication solution that supports the use of QR codes and facial recognition; its arrival on the NayaOne marketplace will make it easier for the latter’s customers to implement passwordless security. The development comes just a month after BlockID’s arrival on the AWS Marketplace, suggesting that 1Kosmos is hard at work on finding and acquiring distribution partners.

IDEX Heralds Production Ramp-up From BCC

IDEX Biometrics says Taiwan-based Beautiful Card Corporation (“BCC”) will “ramp production” of its IDEX Pay Biometric card solution in response to growing demand. “We are delighted that BCC has selected IDEX Biometrics in support of our expansion in Asia,” said IDEX’s Chief Commercial Officer, Catharina Eklof. Earlier this week, BCC announced it had obtained Mastercard approval for the Zwipe Pay biometric card platform, which features IDEX fingerprint sensors thanks to a partnership between IDEX and Zwipe that the companies announced in the spring of 2020.

Silicom Seeks to Leverage Hailo’s AI Chips

Israel-based Silicom Ltd. has partnered with Hailo to integrate its AI-focused processors into a new product platform dubbed “Edge AI”. Silicom specializes in networking and data infrastructure solutions; the company says this will be its first foray into artificial intelligence. No specific Edge AI products have yet been announced, but Silicom CEO Liron Eizenman says his firm’s collaboration with Hailo will make it “cost-effective to move behavior analytics, human intrusion detection, facial recognition and vehicle analytics to the edge.” The news comes after Hailo worked with Taiwan-based QNAP Systems on an AI-driven surveillance system earlier this year.

AuthID Reports BARR Momentum

In addition to its new management, AuthID has introduced a novel accounting term to help illustrate its momentum in the second quarter of 2023. The company says that it signed multiple new contracts amounting to “an estimated aggregate Booked Annual Recurring Revenue or BARR” of about $239,000 during the period. The undisclosed clients include a Fortune 500 company with more than 100,000 employees, a US financial institution, and an international recruitment platform. The news comes after AuthID’s corporate overhaul announced in March, which saw the installation of four new board members and, ultimately, a new CEO in former Socure executive Rhon Daguro. Daguro says the Q2 wins “represent the highest total BARR in sales that authID has achieved in a single quarter to date.”

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July 6, 2023 – by Alex Perala