Patents, Partnerships, and Privacy: 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:

Biometrics Patents

Clearview AI has been awarded another US patent related to its facial recognition technology. Titled “Scalable Training Data Preparation Pipeline And Efficient Distributed Trainer For Deep Neural Networks In Facial Recognition”, the patent pertains to training process for Clearview’s neural networks, outlining a method that Clearview says helps to reduce demographic bias in its facial recognition tool. In announcing the patent win, Clearview – which is notorious for scraping face images from the internet, including social media profiles – explained that while most facial recognition technologies are trained on “standard celebrity datasets”, Clearview has benefitted from “its unique data preparation and distributed training algorithms.”

Strategic Partnerships

Keyri has joined the Ping Identity Global Technology Partner Program, and its technology has now been integrated into the latter’s PingOne DaVinci platform. The end result is a new authentication option available to Ping Identity customers, in which an end user scans a QR code and is then prompted to undertake a biometric scan using their mobile device in order to complete the app-based login process. The partnership announcement comes after last month’s news that Ping Identity is being taken private through a $2.8 billion acquisition agreement by Thoma Bravo.

Epicore Biosystems, a startup that offers “sweat-sensing” wearable devices that can be used to track hydration and stress, has entered into a partnership with 3M’s Health Care Business and medical device manufacturer Innovize. In a statement, the company explained that it will leverage “skin-interfacing materials” from 3M and Innovize’s manufacturing capabilities to further scale its domestic production infrastructure.

IDnow has become an Adobe Acrobat Sign Digital Identity Gateway provider. The Adobe Document Cloud enables Adobe customers to use third-party ‘Digital Identity Providers’ to verify end users’ identities for the purposes of signing an ‘Advanced Electronic Signature’. IDnow’s designation as one such third-party vendor means that Adobe Sign can be configured to let end users verify their identities using IDnow’s selfie-based biometric identity verification tools, AutoIdent and VideoIdent.

Product Upgrades

Daon has upgraded its vaccine credential app to enable use across a multi-leg journey. Launched in the spring of 2021, the VeriFLY solution is a digital wallet that is designed to let users present a virtual version of their vaccination receipt when traveling. Previously, VeriFLY users were only able to access their credentials for point-to-point travel, but the new upgrade means that VeriFLY credentials can be used across the entire journey in a multi-stop itinerary, even if it involves multiple different airlines.

Privacy Regulations

Canada’s Privacy Commissioner has determined that one of the country’s largest telecoms, Rogers, failed to properly obtain consent to collect a customer’s biometric data. The customer had opted out of enrolment in Rogers’ voice-based biometric authentication system, Voice ID, but later learned that she had been enrolled in it anyway. She brought the issue to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner as a violation of the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act. Rogers has agreed to implement “a number of significant changes” to the program, according to a statement from the Privacy Commissioner, to ensure that it obtains explicit consent for Voice ID enrolment from customers going forward.

Investment Funding

South Africa-based iiDENTIFii has raised $15 million in an investment round led by Arise, an Africa-focused fund, with contributions from Sanari Capital and the American entrepreneur Bill Spruill. The selfie-based authentication startup is seeking to corner the African market, with founder and CEO Gur Geva asserting that iiDENTIFii will “put the investment to work as we close in on our goal of authenticating every face in Africa.”

Digital ID

Government authorities in Ethiopia are preparing to issue digital, blockchain-based IDs to students at select schools in the country. The pilot is being carried out in partnership with Input Output HK, the company behind the prominent cryptocurrency Cardano, and will be based upon the same blockchain platform. The digital IDs will be used to track students’ academic performances and to eliminate the possibility of ‘academic dishonesty’. Read the full story on Mobile ID World.

Idling Threat

The chief executive at the United Kingdom’s Port of Dover, Doug Bannister, is warning that the European Union’s planned implementation of a biometric border screening program poses a “threat to national trade resilience, regional traffic management and local air quality”. The executive explained that while the biometric screening process can be implemented relatively easily at airports, it will dramatically extend queues for vehicular traffic at Dover, the key port for travel between Britain and Europe.

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September 29, 2022 – by Alex Perala

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