More Scrutiny for Worldcoin and British Shoplifters – 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:

German Data Regulator Reveals Longstanding Worldcoin Investigation

Germany’s data privacy watchdog has been investigating the web3 startup Worldcoin since November of last year, the regulator’s president has revealed. The Bavarian State Office for Data Protection Supervision opened its investigation over concerns about Worldcoin’s plans to process sensitive data at scale, with Worldcoin seeking to build a global digital identity platform that uses iris biometrics for “proof of personhood”. The revelation comes after France’s watchdog, CNIL, announced its own investigation, though it acknowledged that the Bavarian office has primary responsibility for the inquiry in the context of the European Union.

Federal Judge Rejects Dior’s BIPA Deterrent Effort

A federal judge has rejected the fashion brand Christian Dior’s request to have its lawyers’ fees paid by the plaintiffs in a dismissed lawsuit that had been filed under Illinois’s Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA). Dior’s explicit aim in making its request was to deter lawyers from bringing more ostensibly unjustified lawsuits under BIPA, but U.S. District Judge Elaine Bucklo said that any demand to require such ‘fee shifting’ would need to be justified by proving that plaintiffs acted in bad faith when bringing the lawsuit.

SPAR Supermarket Deploy Facewatch Surveillance Tech

SPAR, the world’s largest supermarket chain, has become the latest retailer operating in the United Kingdom to deploy facial recognition technology from Facewatch to help fight shoplifting. “Alongside other major national retailers, we have installed Facewatch technology in a small number of specific SPAR UK stores to help protect our colleagues and shoppers from antisocial behaviour where this has been an issue in the past,” a spokesperson said. Facewatch came under scrutiny earlier this year when a cross-party group of nearly 50 members of parliament signed a public letter urging the retailer Frasers Group to stop using its technology.

Private Ambulance Service Embraces Biometric Patient ID

Acadian Ambulance, which offers private ambulance services across Louisiana and parts of Texas, Tennessee, and Mississippi, is integrating biometric patient identification into its fleet, thanks to a partnership with Duality Health. The latter’s facial recognition software is designed to link a patient’s face directly to their medical record number, and also uses APIs to link the records with health information exchange data. “As we look towards the future of EMS, we remain committed to investing in innovative solutions that set us apart as an industry leader,” explained Acadian Ambulance CEO and Chairman Richard Zuschlag.

IDnow Gets PVID Certification

IDnow has attained PVID certification for its IDCheck.io Identity Proofing Service and VideoIdent Qualified Electronic Signature solution. PVID, an acronym for “prestataire de verification d’identité à distance”, is a standard established by France’s Agence nationale de la sécurité des systèmes d’information, or ANSSI, that certifies a given solution’s compliance with the European Union’s Regulation on Electronic Identification and Trust Services, or eIDAS, particularly with respect to digital onboarding for financial services providers. IDnow says it is only the second private company to obtain PVID certification, which has a term of two years.

SITA, Indicio Partner On Digital Passport Solution

SITA has partnered with Indicio, a Seattle-based startup focused on decentralized identity technology. The companies will work together on Digital Travel Credentials enabling travelers to essentially use a digital version of their physical passport, stored in their mobile device. SITA says the technology has already been trialed in partnership with the Government of Aruba, in a pilot that let travelers arriving at the Queen Beatrix International Airport to selectively share identity data from a DTC with different entities. The new partnership will see SITA’s DTC integrate Indicio Proven, an off-the-shelf open source technology designed to let various organizations develop and configure digital credential ecosystems.

New White Paper Reviews ‘Global Assured Identity Network’ Efforts

OpenID, the Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation (GLEIF), the Cloud Signature Consortium, Open Identity Exchange, the Secure Identity Alliance, and the International Institute of Finance have together published a new white paper covering cross-industry efforts to develop the kinds of interoperable, high-trust identity networks envisioned in the GAIN Digital Trust paper published in 2021. Titled “GAIN in 2023”, the new paper reviews some of the progress that the partners have made, including the GAIN Proof of Concept’s testing of cross-border data transfers, and the Open Identity Exchange’s efforts to map trust frameworks across various jurisdictions in collaboration with the Interoperability Working Group.

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August 1, 2023 – by Alex Perala