WEF Recommendations and White House Orders – 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:

WEF Metaverse Report Discusses Digital ID, Biometrics

A new World Economic Forum report on digital ID in the metaverse highlights the potential role of biometrics. Titled “Metaverse Identity: Defining the Self in a Blended Reality”, the report notes how “inferred data-based credentials” could enable authentication in real time, and gives the example of pairing facial recognition with behavior tracking in order to establish an ongoing user authentication process. The report was authored in collaboration with Accenture, and featured contributions from major tech companies including Meta, Google, and Qualcomm. Read the full story on Mobile ID World.

White House Orders Federal Agencies to Implement AI Safeguards

The White House has issued a mandate for federal agencies to enforce robust safeguards for the use of artificial intelligence, including a specific stipulation regarding facial recognition technologies, by December 1. Agencies are required to perform risk assessments and establish operational and governance standards. Additionally, the Biden administration has introduced measures for public opt-out from AI applications like facial recognition in TSA screenings and mandated human oversight in AI-assisted diagnostic processes in healthcare. The initiative also involves comprehensive public disclosure of AI applications, reporting on AI usage metrics, and, where secure, releasing government AI resources.

DHS Publishes Privacy Impact Assessment of Biometric System

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has released a privacy impact assessment of its new cloud-based biometrics research system. The system, called Cloud-based Biometric Analytic Environment, is designed to improve the performance of DHS biometric tools like facial, iris and fingerprint recognition, and will be housed in an Amazon Web Services S&T GovCloud partition. The assessment acknowledges privacy risks associated with using real biometric data for testing, but highlights mitigating factors including data de-identification, encryption, and restricted access to the system.

Digital ID Law Passes Australian Senate

Australia’s Digital ID Bill 2023 has passed in the Senate, backed by 43 amendments to ensure voluntary participation and enhanced privacy, including biometric data protections. The development paves the way for a significant expansion of the current government-led digital ID program, aiming for a mid-year operational start. The scheme, designed to streamline identity verification for services while safeguarding personal data, will be accessible to private sector entities such as banks sooner than initially planned, reducing the timeframe from four years to two. The legislation also introduces stringent oversight for law enforcement’s access to digital ID data and mandates the consent of individuals for reactivating their digital IDs.

UNHCR Charts Progress in Biometric Refugee Enrollment

The United Nations’ refugee agency continues to chart progress in its biometric ID efforts. In a newly published update on the humanitarian crisis in Somalia, the UNHCR says that its key achievements in February of this year included the completion of biometric enrolment for 2,000 flood-affected households in Baidoa, enabling precise and accountable aid distribution. And in Puntland, the UNHCR successfully conducted biometric verification for over 4,200 students, both at primary and secondary levels. This verification process facilitates the efficient allocation of educational resources, ensuring that support is accurately directed towards verified students, thereby optimizing the impact of educational assistance programs.

UK Study Finds Mixed Opinion on Police Biometrics

A new study by the Alan Turing Institute surveyed over 660 Britons on their views of police using biometrics. While 85 percent were comfortable with using biometrics at border checkpoints, support dropped for using them in public spaces (60 percent) or for lie detection (29 percent). The public trusted police and healthcare organizations more than private companies with biometric data. The study recommends updating legislation, creating a national police biometric deployment register, and holding discussions on future applications. Overall, there was cautious optimism about the potential benefits outweighing concerns.

New Robot Can Predict Your Smile

Researchers at Columbia University have developed a new robot named Emo that can predict and mimic human smiles in real-time. Whereas most robots – not to mention people – can only react to human emotions after they’ve already been expressed, Emo uses a dual neural network to analyze its own motor commands and high-resolution camera input to predict human smiles 839 milliseconds before they occur. This allows Emo to mimic the smile simultaneously, creating a more natural and engaging human-robot interaction. The researchers believe this technology can be further improved to incorporate cultural nuances in emotional expression.

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March 28, 2024 – by Alex Perala and Tony Bitzionis