Official reports from Israel’s Deputy Interior Minister reveal that the country’s national biometric database is expected to launch in mid-July. According to a Haaretz report, the database – which was originally scheduled to commence in November of 2011 – was delayed by an unforeseen, lengthy legislative proceeding that included an appeal to Israel’s High Court […]

The U.S. Coast Guard is proposing to limit the electronic reading of Transportation Worker Identification Credentials (TWIC) and instead rely on visual inspection. The Transportation Worker Identification Credential Reader Requirements Notice of Proposed Rulemaking would limit the use of the biometric smart cards and readers and use visual inspection of TWIC cards as the primary […]

VIP guests checking into Universal Studio hotels in Tokyo can walk in, see themselves on a video monitor along with a green check mark and know they will be recognized when they arrive at the check-in counter. Universal Studios Japan is one of the first hotels to deploy NEC’s facial recognition technology for the hospitality […]

In an attempt to restrict fraudulent use of mobile SIM cards by criminals and terrorists, telecom service providers in India are planning to introduce biometric authentication. According to a Business Standard report, the push for full-proof verification is coming from Delhi Police Commissioner Neeraj Kumar, who recently said the department of telecommunications (DoT) should institute […]

Match-on-card technology marries biometrics with smart cards, enabling users to not only carry their biometric with them but also match it on the card. This means greater privacy for the cardholder and the ability to authenticate without connection to a backend database. In a traditional fingerprint biometric implementation, a user first establishes an identity in […]

Did Apple kill NFC? This is the question posited by Matt Witheiler, principal at Flybridge Capital Partners, on the tech giant’s role — or lack of — in the adoption of NFC. In his guest column, Witheiler takes a firm stance on the issue, stating that following Apple’s iOS 7 announcement at the recent WWDC event, he believes […]

Research and Markets has released the “Global Biometric Systems Market Forecast & Opportunities 2018” which predicts that global biometric revenues will reach as much as $20 billion by 2018. According to the report, lack of data protection and outdated security practices like passwords and PIN codes have been a driving force behind the growth of […]

UK-based biometrics start-up, Voicekey has developed an iPhone app that could replace PINs as a means to validate financial transactions. The OpenSezMe app has been developed in conjunction with Nottingham Trent University. Using patent-pending software, it extracts unique features from an individual’s voice to forge personalized biometric ‘classifiers.’ These classifiers are then stored in either […]