Rwanda’s Digital ID, Ohio’s Clearview Deal, and Tinder Biometrics: 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:

Rwanda Plans Digital ID

The Rwandan government is in the early planning stages of a digital ID program that would ultimately allow residents to store a virtual version of their state-issued ID on their smartphone. The proposed plan also entails the collection of residents’ biometric data, with the country’s Minister of ICT and Innovation, Paula Ingabire, suggesting that fingerprint and iris scanning will play a role. The World Bank has committed to providing $40 million in financing for the project, but first legislators must approve a legal framework for the program, with a draft bill under consideration now in the country’s legislature.

Scottish Biometrics Commissioner Wants Answers On Cloud Platform

The Scottish Biometrics Commissioner, Brian Plastow, has formally asked Police Scotland to demonstrate that its use of a cloud-based “Digital Evidence Sharing Capability” service is in compliance with the United Kingdom’s data protection rules. The service has been contracted to Axon, a body camera provider, and hosted on Microsoft Azure; it falls within Plastow’s purview thanks to its processing of genetic and biometric data. In his letter to Police Scotland, the Commissioner said he was “sufficiently concerned” about the pilot’s potential privacy violations that he had to demand more information.

Ohio BCI Uses Clearview’s Facial Recognition

Ohio’s Bureau of Criminal Investigations has resumed its use of facial recognition technology, contracting the technology from Clearview AI after a hiatus that lasted more than a year. According to a spokesperson for the state’s Attorney General, the technology is being used in investigations involving homicides, drug trafficking, the exploitation of children, and for the identification of human remains. As Cleveland.com/The Plain Dealer reports, the AG spokesperson emphasized that Clearview’s technology cannot identify an individual itself, but instead “provides an investigator a possible identity of an individual from the image searched. The results are merely an investigative lead that must then be followed up on by the investigator.”

Tinder Swipes Right On Video Selfies

The online dating platform Tinder has launched a new user verification system based on video selfies. Facial recognition is used to verify that the individual in the video is the same person depicted in the user’s uploaded photos, with a Liveness Check feature ensuring that the user is present during the verification process. The company is prompting all new users to upload video selfies during the registration process, and says it will ask all users to use an updated Photo Verification system that includes the video selfie ‘in the coming months’. Tinder also plans to give users the option of only exchanging messages with other users who are “Photo Verified”.

OneID Names New CEO

OneID has appointed Paula Sussex, the former chief executive of the UK government’s Student Loans Company, as its new CEO. Sussex will replace Martin Wilson, who will return to his previous position as a non-executive board director. London-based OneID offers an identity verification platform that relies primarily on partner banks to confirm the identities of end users, and also features support for biometric security. The company recently helped the financial services firm NatWest to build a digital identity verification service of its own.

Biometric 2FA Wearable Company Gets $30M in Financing

Token, a New York-based company developing a biometric smart ring designed to enable passwordless authentication, has secured $30 million in financing from Houston, Texas-based Grand Oaks Capital. The funding arrives in the form of a $20 million secured note and a $10 million convertible note, and is meant to support Token’s “overall growth and future product development,” according to a statement announcing the financing. Token was founded in 2014; the company raised $13 million in a Series B led by Grand Oaks last June.

Imprivata OneSign Approved for Google’s CER List

Imprivata’s single sign-on solution, Imprivata OneSign, has been approved for Google’s Chrome Enterprise Recommended (CER) program, which is meant to offer organizations using the Chrome Enterprise platform a curated list of solutions deemed to be of particularly high quality by Google. Imprivata OneSign is primarily aimed at healthcare and clinical applications, offering end users that ability to log into digital assets with a badge tap or biometric authentication, rather than a username and password.

–

April 26, 2023 – by Alex Perala