Welcome to FindBiometrics’ digest of identity industry news. Here’s what you need to know about the world of digital identity and biometrics today:
FTC Wants Input on Deepfake Scam Liability Rule
The Federal Trade Commission is calling for comment on a proposed rule meant to fight against deepfake-driven scams. Notably, the rule would impose liability on companies that provide the tools used to generate synthetic media that are used to impersonate others for the purpose of defrauding individuals. “With voice cloning and other AI-driven scams on the rise, protecting Americans from impersonator fraud is more critical than ever,” said FTC Chair Lina Khan. The Commission will accept comments for 60 days after the date of the rule’s publication in the Federal Register, which doesn’t appear to have yet occurred.
Samsung Asks for Reversal of BIPA Arbitration Ruling
Samsung has asked the Chicago-based 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to reverse a lower court’s decision to make the company pay millions in arbitration fees for claims that it has violated Illinois’s Biometric Information Privacy Act through its use of facial recognition software. The company is now arguing that claimants have not provided evidence that they had arbitration agreements with the company. The claimants’ attorney, Deepak Gupta, told 7th Circuit Chief Judge Diane Sykes that evidence of the arbitration agreements would have been provided in the lower court if Samsung had asked for it, asserting that Samsung is now trying to “raise questions about one or two people” to cast doubt on the entire case.
Kuwait Mandates Biometric Attendance Tracking for Teachers
Kuwait’s Ministry of Education has announced reforms to the education sector that include the implementation of biometric time and attendance tracking. The government appears to be taking a carrot-and-stick approach to the reforms, announcing that schools of all kinds, including kindergartens and special education schools, will be able to operate on flexible hours; but school administrators must see that their employees’ fingerprints are registered for time and attendance tracking. Failure to comply within a week carries the penalty of salary suspension.
Property Management Platform Integrates Australian Digital ID Service
Australia’s ConnectID digital identity service has partnered with RentBetter, a property management platform. ConnectID is an initiative launched by Australian Payments Plus (AP+), an organization whose purpose is to establish a unified national payments infrastructure. Essentially, the service allows different organizations, such as banks and government agencies, to verify certain identity information without directly sharing it with requesting parties. Its integration into the RentBetter platform will give both tenants and landlords more control over the sensitive information they share, as well as more certainty about who they’re dealing with.
IDnow Joins Crypto Consortium for PII-Preserving AML Compliance
IDnow has joined a consortium that will work to make crypto companies compliant with the European Union’s Anti-Money-Laundering Regulation and the Transfer of Funds Regulation (TFR). The new TFR requires cryptocurrency transactions to carry identifying data of both the sender and the receiving party, while new AML rules will make “Crypto Asset Service Providers” subject to similar AML regulations applied to traditional financial institutions. The consortium’s goal is to propose a system in which a trusted party verifies an identification process while tokenizing identity information. Transactions would be confirmed without revealing PII, but the “Soul-Bound Token” could be used to share identity information when it is requested by a recognized authority, such as a law enforcement agency. Other members of the consortium include the IOTA Foundation, walt.id, SPYCE.5, and Bloom Labs.
Face Swap Fraud Up 704 Percent in 2023: iProov
Face-based deepfake fraud attempts against remote identity verification systems increased 704 percent last year, according to a new analysis from iProov. The “face swaps” are enabling through inexpensive new generative AI tools, allowing for the creation of synthetic biometrics that can fool the human eye and “less advanced biometric solutions,” explained iProov’s Chief Scientific Officer, Andrew Newell. The 2024 iProov Threat Intelligence Report also notes that injection attacks specifically targeting mobile-based IDV platform were up 255 percent, and that the number of malicious groups sharing information online about attacks on biometric and video-based IDV systems almost doubled over the number in 2022.
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February 16, 2024 – by Alex Perala
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