Maine Considers the BIPA Option: 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:

Maine Legislature to Consider BIPA-style Privacy Bill

A new biometric privacy bill has been proposed in the Maine legislature. Drafted in collaboration with the American Civil Liberties Union, the proposed bill is similar to Illinois’s Biometric Information Privacy Act, requiring organizations to obtain explicit consent from consumers for the collection of the biometric data, and giving consumers a right of private action in the event that they think a company has violated their privacy rights under the regulation. The bill proposes penalties of $1,000 for violations due to negligence and $5,000 for violations due to intentional misconduct or recklessness.

FaceTec Surges Ahead in Q1 Update

FaceTec has announced its results for the first quarter of 2023, marking a 72 percent increase in revenues year-over-year. It also saw a 120 percent surge in the use of its 3D Liveness Check system, the only feature of FaceTec’s platform for which the company bills. That amounted to 300 million 3D Liveness Checks in total during the quarter. The achievement marks another consecutive quarter of considerable growth for FaceTec, which had reported a 104 percent revenue spike in Q4 of 2022, following a 96 percent jump in the third quarter of last year.

Innovatrics Demonstrates Iris Accuracy in NIST’s IREX

Innovatrics has attained the top ranking for accuracy in single-eye iris recognition in the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s ongoing Iris Exchange (“IREX”) evaluation program. The company’s technology also took the second-place spot in two-eye identification, with Innovatrics asserting in a statement that there was “only a negligible difference” between its solution and the top-ranking one in that category. The achievement comes after Innovatrics’ iris recognition technology placed in the top three for speed and accuracy in the IREX 10 testing program last October.

Thales Celebrates DHS Biometric Technology Rally Performance

Thales is celebrating a strong performance in the Department of Homeland Security’s most recent Biometric Technology Rally, an independent testing program organized by the DHS’s Science and Technology Directorate. Thales provided camera systems for facial recognition – a single-camera solution called “Bison” and a three-camera system dubbed “Wilson”. When paired with one of the top-four biometric matching algorithms, Bison delivered a True Identification Rate of 97.4 percent in tests on groups of four subjects, the top score for that category. And both Bison and Wilson achieved perfect scores on tests meant to assess privacy capabilities, when paired with top-four biometric matching algorithms.

CyberLink Launches AI ‘People Tracker’

Taiwan-based CyberLink has announced a new “People Tracker” solution that combines the company’s facial recognition technology with additional computer vision capabilities including the ability to recognize demographic attributes, clothing, and accessories. CyberLink says its solution can track individuals across multiple camera feeds, and is pitching it for a range of use cases such as tracking individuals in shopping malls and sports stadiums, and finding lost and confused hospital patients.

Hikvision Announces ‘Smart Turnstiles’

Hikvision has launched a new set of biometric turnstiles for access control, pitching them as a no muss, no fuss solution that is easy to deploy and to repair. The turnstiles, available in two models, feature integrated facial recognition, card readers, and QR code readers. Hikvision says its Smart Turnstiles were designed to minimize the complexity of wiring and installation, and that they have self-diagnostic features to make maintenance simpler and easier.

BIO-key Clients Move to the Cloud

Three more of BIO-key’s clients have opted to migrate their on-premises deployments of the company’s PortalGuard identity and access management solution to the cloud-based version, PortalGuard IDaaS. “In the cloud, IT leaders can easily right-size computing resources according to unique business requirements and cut wasteful spending,” explained BIO-key’s PortalGuard President, Mark Cochran. The news comes after IAM specialist BeyondTrust added PortalGuard to its Privileged Remote Access solutions portfolio last month.

Biometric Card Startup Orders IDEX Tech

IDEX Biometrics has received a production order for biometric sensor modules from its fellow Norwegian company PONE Biometrics. Founded in 2017, PONE has been developing its flagship offering, the OFFPAD, a smart card designed to let users easily and securely access IT systems. IDEX’s technology will be used in the card’s fingerprint-based authentication system, with PONE CEO Jan-Erik Skaug describing the “close collaboration” between the companies as critical to helping his firm target a Q2 launch for his firm’s solution.

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April 24, 2023 – by Alex Perala

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