Pakistan’s National Database Regulatory Authority launched the country’s new Smart National Identity Card. It held the launch at the eighth symposium of International Civil Aviation Organization on identity documents, biometrics and security standards. The new credentials comply with ICAO standard 9303 part 3 volume 1 and ISO 7816-4, and the government agency hopes that the […]

Datacard Group revealed enhancements to the Datacard PB6500 passport issuance system, enabling government agencies worldwide to optimize passport security while lowering operational costs. The PB6500 system offers true field modularity and a small footprint, and the system’s booklet leafing technology is highly accurate and helps to reduce expensive waste and re-issues due to errors. Datacard […]

Governments’ adoption and migration to next generation smart national ID cards will fuel the growth of the government smart card market, says ABI Research. In its recent report “Government and Healthcare Citizen ID Cards,” the firm says that shipments in this market will reach 765 million by 2017. National ID cards will grow from 37% […]

SecuGen has announced that it’s Hamster IV fingerprint reader has received Standardization Testing and Quality Certification (STQC) certification, making the system eligible for deployment in India’s Unique Identification (UID) project. SecuGen’s certification was attained in conjunction with partner in the region Tutis Technology. The STQC certification provides confidence that certified devices are reliable, safe, secure […]

Identification solutions specialist Trüb will supply the Guinean government with a national identity solution. The new identity cards will be issued to each citizen of Guinea when they register to vote. The cards’ initial use will be as an ID for voting purposes, but there are plans to extend the cards’ utilities to act as […]

Indonesia with its 70,000 plus islands, electricity issues and limited bandwidth is preparing to roll out what could be the world’s most ambitious biometric ID initiative to date. A Computerworld report revealed that the initiative is costing the country $600 million and will provide 172 million residents a national identity card. The project is expected […]

The State of Gabon has selected Gemalto to build a national biometric civil registry to replace the current paper identification system. The project, a part of Digital Gabon’s strategic plan, aims to have the registry in place before local elections in 2013. Gemalto will create an end-to-end system with its Coesys biometric citizen enrollment system. […]

GET Group and Graphic Security Systems Corporation (GSSC) announced the GET/Toppan eP600 ePassport System (eP600), one of the first passport printers capable of personalizing secure travel documents using GSSC’s Variable Stealth SI security feature. Variable Stealth SI is a concealed image added to the color photo. The image is generated using patented software developed by […]

The Ukrainian parliament has passed the first reading of a bill to introduce biometric IDs to the country. The bill also would enable the creation of a unified state demographic database with basic personal information on all citizens and it would also call for the implementation of e-passports with contactless smart card chips. This bill […]

A Paris court fined Safran $644,000 for bribing Nigerian officials in order to win an ID project last decade, according to a Reuters report. Investigating magistrates found that the bribes had helped Safran win a $220 million contract to make more than 70 million identity cards. Read the Reuters report here.