NY DMV MDL and Other Acronyms: 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:

Mexican Lawmakers Clear Path for Biometric ID Program

Mexican lawmakers have passed legislation clearing the way for the development of a biometric national ID system. According to a Reforma report, Mexico’s Chamber of Deputies approved a law that gives the country’s Civil Registry the authority to collect Mexicans’ biometric data, which would be administered by the Ministry of the Interior. The General Law for the Operation of Civil Registries specifically lays the groundwork for the creation of a National Registration and Identity System, or “SID.”

New Border Screening Deployments at Air and Sea Ports

Authorities at Texas’s Austin-Bergstrom International Airport are working on substantial upgrades that will include the deployment of a biometric passenger processing system by 2024, which will use facial recognition to match a given traveler to their photo ID. The upgrade also includes an enhanced luggage screening system that will eschew the need for travelers to remove laptops and liquids from their bags, and the implementation of additional TSA screening lanes.

The Port of Jacksonville, Florida, has become the latest seaport to see the deployment of biometric border screening, thanks to a collaboration between US Customs and Border Protection and Carnival Cruise Line. Cruise customers will now be subject to a debarkation process at the seaport that involves a face scan, though US travelers and select foreign nationals have the option to opt out. Complementing the CBP’s “Simplified Arrival” facial recognition system in place across America’s airports, the agency’s biometric border screening system is now in place at 17 seaports, including those in New Jersey, New York, Texas, California, Washington, Louisiana, Alabama, Puerto Rico, and Maryland.

Hair Color Company Faces BIPA ‘Virtual Try-on’ Lawsuit

Madison Reed, a provider of hair coloring products, has become the latest company to have a ‘virtual try-on’ service accused of violating Illinois’s Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA). A proposed class action lawsuit alleges that an online tool that invited customers to view how their hair would appear in different colors had failed to obtain their consent for its collection and use of their biometric data in the process; and that Madison Reed did not provide the proper BIPA disclosures concerning the storage of biometric data.

Paravision Search Sees Commercial Launch

Paravision has announced the commercial launch of Paravision Search, its enterprise-focused, large-scale facial recognition solution. First unveiled in Paravision’s launch event last fall, the solution can enroll 50 million individuals in under 3.5 hours, and can perform 1.4 million matches per second per core on an Intel Xeon 3.10GHz processor. It can also run 120 concurrent requests per second when running 16 CPUs and 100,000 templates, and that can be scaled further up with additional hardware.

Neurotechnology Upgrades Flagship Platform

Lithuania-based Neurotechnology has launched the latest version of its flagship biometric platform. MegaMatcher 13.0 delivers a number of enhancements, including enhanced, iBeta-certified liveness detection; faster voiceprint matching via a “MegaMatcher Accelerator” tool; and enhanced quality estimation for fingerprint and iris scans, among other upgrades. The platform also features a new tattoo recognition algorithm. “With this new set of biometric algorithms, our MegaMatcher 13.0 products offer greater accuracy and new functionality to serve the most challenging multi-biometric applications,” commented Neurotechnology Director Irmantas Naujikas.

Aware Teams With Digital Contract Specialist

Uqoud, a Dubai-based provider of a digital contract management platform, has teamed up with Aware, Inc. The company has integrated Aware’s Knomi solution into its platform, and is using its facial recognition technology to enable selfie-based onboarding for new users. In announcing the partnership, the companies also noted that Knomi’s technology can “continuously authenticate users through facial biometrics.” Aware’s Chief Revenue Officer, Craig Herman, emphasized that “Aware’s footprint in the Middle East market is expanding,” adding that the Uqoud partnership “opens up a lot of possibilities” to do business with other companies in the region that are seeking biometric solutions.

Jumio Wins Globee Awards

Jumio has been named a winner in two categories of the 2023 Globee Cybersecurity Awards, a program that invites competitors to make their best case for their solutions while seeking recommendations from industry experts, customers, partners, and any other stakeholders to back up their claims. Jumio took Gold in the category of “Authentication (Single, Two-Factor, Multi, or Cloud Based) Solution”, as well as silver in “Best Security Solution (New or Updated version)”.

NY DMV Confirms MDL Plans

The New York Department of Motor Vehicles is developing a mobile driver’s license (MDL) solution that it aims to roll out by the end of this year. The effort was confirmed by DMV commissioner Mark Schroeder in a budget hearing, but the authorities are being tight-lipped about the MDL for the time being. Responding to an inquiry from The Citizen, a spokesperson said it is “too early in the process to talk about where or how it might be used.” Read the full story on Mobile ID World.

–

March 15, 2023 – by Alex Perala

Want to get the identity news digest early? Become a member and get the digest sent straight to your inbox, before it’s published on FindBiometrics: