TikTok Faces Big ICO Fine

Welcome to FindBiometrics’ digest of identity industry news. Here’s what you need to know about the world of digital identity and biometrics today:

TikTok

The UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office has issued a ‘provisional notice’ indicating that it is considering the imposition of a multi-million pound fine on TikTok over its failures to protect the privacy of children using the video sharing platform. The ICO says that its investigation has found that between May of 2018 and July of 2020 TikTok breached the UK’s data protection laws by processing the data of children without parental consent, failing to be transparent with users, and processing “special category data,” which includes things like ethnicity, sexual orientation, and biometric data.

Biometric Time & Attendance

Doctors in the Indian state of Bihar plan to protest a mandatory biometric attendance system imposed by the state’s health department. According to a report from Hindustan Times, the doctors will wear black badges and “boycott outdoor patient department work” on October 6 if the government does not withdraw the requirement. The doctors argue that the healthcare system is critically understaffed, and that they are managing their duties through informal arrangements between colleagues, which the biometric attendance system disrupts.

Biometric Wearables

Authorities at the Beijing Public Transport Consortium have issued long-distance bus drivers biometric bracelets that can track various health metrics, in an effort to improve safety after a recent, fatal bus crash in the city of Guiyang. According to a report from Daily Star, the wearables can track blood pressure, exercise, and sleep patterns, and can even detect signs of anxiety, though the official brand of smart bracelet has not been disclosed.

MINEX Rankings

Innovatrics’ biometric algorithms have reached the top ranking in the “Native 1 Finger FNMR@FMR≤10” section of the Template Matchers category of the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s Minutiae Interoperability Exchange (MINEX) III testing program. Meanwhile, the company’s technology retained its top position in the Template Matchers category’s “Pooled 2 Fingers FNMR@FMR≤10” section.

Passwordless Authentication

Bank of America has launched a new passwordless login system for corporate clients using CashPro, a working capital management platform that the bank says has a user base of half a million individuals. Users can now access their account by scanning a QR code using the CashPro App, and then performing biometric authentication on their mobile device. The bank framed the new authentication method as a response to client feedback via its CashPro Client Advisory Boards.

Decentralized Identity

Grand View Research is forecasting that the global decentralized identity market will reach a value of $102 billion by 2030, reflecting a CAGR of 88.2 percent from 2022. The market research firm says that the biometric segment of the market will see the fastest growth over the forecast period, highlighting the “increasing launch of biometric identification platforms by some of the major firms, including, Innovatrics and IDEMIA”. Adoption by SMEs will outpace that of larger organizations. Regionally, APAC will see the fastest growth rate over the forecast period.

Mobile Biometrics

Vivo has launched its newest foldable smartphone, the Vivo X Fold Plus, in China. The device features facial recognition and an in-display fingerprint sensor.

Huawei’s new Mate 50 Pro smartphone is now on sale in China, and is reportedly seeing very strong demand from consumers. It features a Time-of-Flight sensor to support 3D facial recognition.

The Art of Surveillance

Belgian artist Dries Depoorter is raising eyebrows with a project that matches social media influencers’ photos with surveillance footage from publicly accessible webcams to detail when and where the photo shoots took place. Depoorter uses facial recognition to pair the Instagram images with the surveillance footage. “I know which questions it raises, this kind of project,” the artist told Input. “But I don’t answer the question itself. I don’t want to put a lesson into the world. I just want to show the dangers of new technologies.”

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September 26, 2022 – by Alex Perala