IfG.CC -
Institute for eGovernment

Biometric security -- which employs systems that read people's fingerprints or compare their voiceprint or retina scans to information in data banks in order to authenticate them -- is being heavily used in some of the United States' most critical installations.

On Tuesday, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) began using a federal information sharing capability in all West Virginia counties that uses biometrics to identify aliens, both lawfully and unlawfully present in the United States, who are booked into local law enforcement’s custody for a crime. This information sharing capability is part of Secure Communities—ICE’s comprehensive strategy to improve and modernize the identification and removal of aliens convicted of a crime from the United States.

For the second year in a row, WVU researchers in computer sciences are working with the FBI to gather information about biometrics, including facial shapes, finger prints, and even audio and video samples.

Research Assistant Professor Jeremy Dawson says his team is looking for 1,000 people to participate.

All West Virginia State Police detachments and seven other law enforcement agencies statewide have LiveScan fingerprint technology, which digitally scans fingerprints when a suspect is booked for a crime, said Sgt. J.E. Skidmore with the West Virginia State Police.

The following 10 North Carolina counties are now using the technology: Burke, Caldwell, Cleveland, Davidson, Forsyth, Iredell, Lincoln, McDowell, Polk and Rutherford. With the expansion of the biometric information sharing capability to these counties, ICE is now using it in 39 North Carolina jurisdictions. Across the country, ICE is using this capability in 544 jurisdictions in 27 states. ICE expects to make it available in jurisdictions nationwide by 2013.

The development of this project under the European Union's Regional Development Fund will be implemented by the Information Centre of the Ministry of the Interior. The project aims to provide a single biometric data processing system (Biometrijas datu apstrādes sistēmā – BDAS, in Latvian) that will facilitate the detection of identity holders who use another person's documents and will thus protect people from identity theft.

The new passports will be printed in the Mirzo-Ulugbek district, where new imported equipment has been installed to produce the passports and specialists are being trained to use the system, Uznews.net has learned from the OVViOG (the district passport registry).

The four districts involved are currently gathering biometric data from the population (passport information, photographs, fingerprints, etc.), which will be included in the electronic information contained in the new passport documents.

Uzbekistan is making the change to comply with standards set by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), which sets the requirements for international travel documents.

Biometric passports have enhanced security features that can be read using electronic devices to verify holders’ nationalities.

The air and railway tickets to Uzbek citizens traveling abroad as of July 1, 2014 will be formalized and sold on the basis of biometric passports, according to the decree.

The intention is to simplify the passport control procedure at international border crossings and to ensure effective protection of the citizens' rights and freedoms, according to the document.

It aims to improve the issuing and renewal of passports, as well as travel documents for stateless people, in accordance with international standards and requirements.

Reports also indicate that the country plans to introduce biometric passports from 2011.

The new biometric scanners are capable of recording an individual's biometric features in one pass through the machine, double-checking them and printing the information into a passport book, TradingMarkets.com reports.

The first stage of the program, which will begin in 2011, will focus on creating biometric passports for government workers, individuals travelling abroad and select citizens.

The preamble of the document states that it was accepted "in an attempt to further improve the procedure of registration, issuance and exchange of passport of the Republic of Uzbekistan, as well as travel documents for stateless persons in the light of contemporary international standards and requirements."

The decree approved the position of passport system and provision of biometric travel document to stateless persons.

Kalonzo asked the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission to make use of the 8,200 BVR kits to ensure Kenyans are not denied the opportunity to participate in the General Election.

He said the equipment would ensure names of ghost voters do not appear in the register.

The 'Saral Money' account from Visa, Axis Bank, HDFC Bank, Icici Bank, Indian Overseas Bank and the State Bank of India is designed to solve the long-standing problem of how to authenticate the many millions of Indians without existing bank accounts or adequate forms of ID.

It taps into the government's Adhaar national identity system - which uses fingerprint and iris biometric information - to verify users and authorise payments.

The Ministry of Public Security is expected to synchronously collect fingerprints for citizen identity card (ID card) across the country under new method and use electronic chip cards for high security and faster processing speed, integrating utilities during the usage process from November 1.

This information was released at an online conference between the departments of public security of 63 provinces and cities belonging to the Central yesterday.

Die Entwicklung biometrischer Verfahren schreitet äußerst schnell voran - gut möglich, dass man sich schon bald bei der Reise ins Ausland an der Grenze anhand charakteristischer körperlicher Merkmale wie Gesichtsform oder Klang der Stimme identifiziert. Das Büro für Technikfolgen-Abschätzung beim Deutschen Bundestag (TAB) hat in einer Studie nun Leistungsfähigkeit, Nutzen und Risiken biometriegestützter Ausweise analysiert - und warnt vor den möglichen Folgen der neuen Technik.

The Nandan Nilekani-led UID project has been touted as the world’s largest, most advanced, biometric database of personal identities. And many believe, according to reports, that the UID is meant to be more secure than the US’ Social Security Number (SSN).

In the absence of a coherent privacy law, Indian CISOs aren’t buying that. “Even SSNs have been misused by criminals for years. The flaw of any personal identification project is that when you input data into a database, there must be an assured mechanism in place. Fingerprints have inherent inaccuracies as a proof of identification and retina scans make data storage requirements much higher,” says security and privacy expert Deepak Rout. “If you don’t provide enough security, then chaos is inevitable.”