Bridge Day biometric ballyhoo

[ed: OK, ballyhoo is probably too strong, but the alliteration demanded it.]

Bridge Day panel backtracks on security plan (Beckley Register-Herald)

Bridge Day 2015 vendors, BASE jumpers and rappellers may be able to choose this year to either pay for a background check with a contracted security company or submit to a biometric fingerprint scan for free.

The Bridge Day Commission in Fayette County passed a motion Wednesday that adds the option of the background check. The check would be conducted by a contracted, third party security company, said Bridge Commission Chairwoman Sharon Cruikshanks.

The cost of the background check will be $12 to $35, depending on which of the three companies the commission contracts.

"Biometric scans are a free option," Cruikshanks said.

This one is especially of local interest here in West Virginia. Not mentioned in the article is that this year’s Bridge Day Festival takes place on Saturday, October 17, 2015.

Background checks became a requirement for vendors and jumpers after 2001. The fingerprint innovation appears to be meant to make the process easier by requiring less text-based identifying information from people undergoing the background check.

More information and the counter-argument to these measures can be read here: Fingerprinting Plan For Bridge Day 2015 Forces Jumper Boycott.

Oh, and if you're unfamiliar with Bridge Day...

 

...it's something.

Biometrics Event

Next Steps in Identity Technologies: Biometrics and Beyond


TechConnect West Virginia, in conjunction with Computer Sciences Corporation and IMTAS, will host a forum to discuss the status of the biometrics industry in West Virginia.

The forum will be held Wednesday, June 20 from 7:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. at the Robert H. Mollohan Research Center, in Fairmont, W.Va.

The event will bring together biometric companies, Federal agencies and university stakeholders to discuss the future of identity and biometrics technologies and their impact on the State's economy. Government agency officials will review the status of identity management initiatives in the public sector, particularly regarding the major expansion underway at the FBI Center in Harrison County. Other speakers will address the need for more private-sector development capitalizing on the talent/brainpower in the region.

Top officials with the FBI's Criminal Justice Information Services Division and the Department of Defense Biometric Identity Management Agency will headline this upcoming Wednesday's Biometric Forum in Fairmont, entitled, "Next Steps in Identity Technologies: Biometrics and Beyond".

Speakers include:

• David Cuthbertson, Assistant Director, FBI Criminal Justice Information Services Division 
• Col. Douglas Flohr, Deputy Director for Operations, Biometrics Identity Management Agency 
• Dr. Bojan Cukic, Director of Center for Identification Technology Research (CITeR)
• Dr. Terry W. Fenger, Director of the Marshall University Forensic Science Center 
• Dr. Marios Savvides, Director of the CyLab Biometrics Center

I'll be there.

UPDATE:
Fore more on the proceedings, see this post or check out the Twitter hashtag #TechConnectWVa.

West Virginia Photo ID Controversy - Some Object to Photo ID on Privacy/Religious Grounds

Real ID Act opposed on the basis of privacy rights religious freedom (West Virginia Public Broadcasting)

“We were created in the image of God. God gave us our uniqueness. What the State wants to do is take something unique physical about us, our digital facial fingerprint and take it. It’s actually theirs. They’re taking something unique from us like someone taking your DNA.

"If I take a picture of you in a photograph, you buy the picture, I give you the picture, it’s your picture. I can’t go out and say do something else with that picture because that is your picture. You understand? What God gave me I don’t have the right to give to the State. Especially when in Scripture it tells me eventually my identification will be necessary to have permission by the State to basically do anything,” Hudok said. [emphasis mine]

That's a bold statement.

There's audio at the link.

UPDATE:
Another article on the subject from the Charleston Daily Mail

"...we would be enrolled in a global system of identification that directly links our body, through biometrics, to our ability to buy and sell..."

and

"I am not saying this is the mark of beast, I'm saying this is where I draw the line"

West Virginia: Senators, FBI to Celebrate Construction of Biometrics Facility

Construction is scheduled to wrap up by the end of 2013 (Huntington Herald-Dispatch)

It will house biometrics staff of both the Department of Defense and the FBI.

Employees will move in during the first half of 2014.

Ultimately, some 160 Defense employees and some 1,200 FBI employees will occupy the space.

West Virginia's Two Senators Tout the State's Biometrics Industry

Biometrics Industry Continues to Advance (WDTV News)
Video at the link.

Senators: Biometrics Industry Key to State’s Economic Future (The State Journal - West Virginia)

Sen. Jay Rockefeller:

"More and more, biometric companies from around the nation — and from all around the globe — are coming to West Virginia to do business," Rockefeller said. "West Virginia is a place where innovation and ingenuity, combined with a workforce that's second-to-none, are fueling economic growth."

Sen. Joe Manchin

"We're one of the best-kept secrets in the industry, but our little state is well-prepared and positioned as a national hub and a leader in the biometrics sector," Manchin said. "The word is definitely getting out—West Virginia is open for business and it's a great place to do business. I am certain that the biometrics industry will continue to look to our state as a partner in future ventures."

Event: DoD Defense Biometrics & Forensics Director in Fairmont, WV October 12

John Boyd, director of Defense Biometrics & Forensics for the U.S. Department of Defense, will speak Wednesday, Oct. 12 in Fairmont.  (The State Journal - West Virginia)

The event is sponsored by the WVHTC Foundation Affiliate Leadership Council (ALC).

FBI Gathers Volunteers' Handwriting Samples at WVU

WVU collects handwriting samples (The Daily Athenaeum)

During the first session, volunteers included hundreds of students, faculty and community members.

Those participating were first asked to fill out release forms that asked for consent to use their handwriting data in published papers and other studies.

Volunteers were given identification numbers and promised they would stay anonymous.

"They're all identified by random numbers, so we don't know names, but they can tell which each individual wrote what," Williams said.

Next, they were asked to copy the same paragraph three times.

Volunteers were asked to write a 2,500-character story about one of four given prompts. After they were finished, volunteers were given a $50 Visa gift card for participating in the study.

Earlier post: West Virginia: FBI seeks local volunteers for handwriting project

West Virginia: FBI seeks local volunteers for handwriting project

Pizza and Fifty Bucks (The Daily Athenaeum)

The Federal Bureaudatabase. [sic.] of Investigation is looking for West Virginia University students to volunteer for a handwriting study which will contribute to a growing biometric The study will dissect anonymous volunteers' handwriting and allow the University's forensics department to learn the importance of handwriting in solving crimes. ... "In order to promote interest in the program, coordinators will compensate participants with a $50 VISA gift card and pizza during sessions," Caridi said.

My guest post at the M2SYS blog touched upon the fact that developers require large data sets in order create and test their biometric matching algorithms. Here's an example of how they collect the data they need.

Dr. Bojan Cukic primer on the history of biometric ID

We've posted on Dr. Cukic before.

He's back providing the quotes for a great short synopsis about the history of biometrics.

Teaming to Win starts today

The Teaming to Win conference is today and tomorrow in Roanoke, WV. Its purpose is to advance and improve small business prospects in West Virginia, and to facilitate educational opportunities which promote higher business standards, methods and practices.

Your humble diarist will be in attendance tomorrow.

Biometric technology used in Osama bin Laden’s death

Bojan Cukic, WVU professor and biometrics expert (Daily Athenaeum)

"Crossing the borders, accessing medicine cabinets in hospitals, even logging in onto our laptops is simply easier more convenient and more secure with biometrics", he said.

More on Bojan
We, on the business end of biometrics, owe a considerable debt to scientists like Dr. Cukic.

Earlier post on SEEK

FBI develops rapid DNA at a distance identification technology

**APRIL FOOLS' DAY: 2011**

Brave New system could reduce DNA matching time to ten minutes (Manchester Guardian)

The old DNA identification system took up to six weeks to analyze a DNA sample for criminal cases and that sample had to be taken, preserved and processed under laboratory conditions. Now the subject's entire genome can be sequenced in under 5 minutes without any physical sample at all, says Rehfeldt. "Our goal for felony case DNA searches is now 10 minutes, and in misdemeanor cases, it's 15 minutes," says Rehfeldt.

A record of all the genetic base pairs and detailed personal information about individuals analyzed by the new system will be maintained in the FBI's Clarksburg, WV facility.

Asked if anyone at the FBI had expressed any reservations regarding the implementation of such a system on privacy or constitutional grounds, Rehfeldt responded via the Twitter messaging service "w00t! All your genome are belong to us!"

A survey of Biometric applications, tech development and global markets

Biometrics: Business of Identity (Economic Times)

"With biometrics, we're looking at a paradigm shift from the West to the East, driven primarily by the population," says Abhigyan Sengupta, senior research manager-semiconductors and electronics, M&M. Asia, Africa and the Middle East will emerge as biometric markets by 2013; some parts there already are. For instance, while most EU nations have had biometric passports for a while, the Middle East, which has drawn flak for terrorism-related activity, is investing heavily in them today.

The linked article provides an "around the world in 800 words" overview about what's happening in the biometricsphere.

WVU: $9.2 million to fund basic research including Biometrics and ID technologies

WVU gets $4.6M gift from Hazel Ruby McQuain Trust, matched by State
(Charleston Daily Mail)

The endowment will support research in energy and environmental sciences; nanotechnology and material science; biotechnological and biomedical sciences; and biometrics and other identification technologies.

FBI switches to faster fingerprint identification technology

New system could reduce print matching time to ten minutes (CIO.co.uk)

The old AFIS fingerprint-matching system took up to two hours to respond to a fingerprint pattern-matching request in criminal cases and 24 hours for civil cases, says Traxler. "Our goal for criminal prints is now 10 minutes, and civil, 15 minutes," says Traxler.

John Traxler is the program manager for NGI in the FBI's Clarksburg, WV facility. Clarksburg is right down the road from our offices in Morgantown.

TechConnectWV announces commercialization awards program

Encourages biometric and identity management job creation in WV (HuntingtonNews.net)

“However, there is little native biometric manufacturing activity and even less identity related intellectual property in the state,” she said. “TechConnectWV’s commercialization awards program will attempt to identify and fund promising ideas that can stimulate industry development and job growth in West Virginia.”
...
TechConnectWV leaders expect to publish and disseminate the rules of submission for the commercialization awards by the end of January. The TechConnectWV program is funded by grants from the Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation.

Contract awarded for $142M FBI project

Clarksburg CJIS Center set to expand (Times West Virginian)

Once completed, the new facility will allow the FBI CJIS Division, which already has the largest centralized collection of biometric information in the world, and the Department of the Army, which has also developed military biometrics database systems in coordination with the FBI, to make advances into other identification technologies, such as DNA, iris, palm prints and facial recognition.

WVU researchers compiling biometrics data

West Virginia Public Broadcasting (Text & Audio at the link)

West Virginia University researchers are working with the FBI to build up a database including finger prints, eye and facial images.

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.

West Virginia University is at the cutting edge of the science of biometric identification. In order to advance the state of the biometric art, they need test subjects to "donate" the raw data that they use in their work.

The linked article and accompanying audio gives great insight into where some of the best minds in the field think biometric ID management is headed.

While this blog is more concerned with market-based product innovation than basic science, our company simply couldn't do what we do without our crosstown neighbors and scientific brethren at WVU.

Tech. in West Virginia

Tech Leaders Discuss State's Future [StateJournal.com]

Jeff Imel is a success story for state tech leaders. The owner of Air Robotics, LLC relocated his company to West Virginia from Indiana 18 months ago and it is a decision he says he praises daily. He now thanks the state for helping his business, that is an aerospace company that designs and manufactures blended wing body Airborne Vehicle Systems, to thrive.

“I tell all my colleagues that West Virginia is the place to be. The opportunities here with the support places like the Robert C. Byrd Institute provide is comparable to none across the country,” Imel said.

That is the same message Tech Connect WV wants to provide to the rest of the world.

The linked article is a good summary of the successes and challenges associated with the development of the technology sector in West Virginia.

The weekly State Journal is also among the best printed publications in the state.

WVU seeks volunteers for biometrics research

WVGazette.com [Charleston, WV]

West Virginia University is looking for volunteers to help with biometrics research.
...
Participants must be 18 or older and get $40 worth of gift cards for their time

College kids have it easy these days! Back in my day, it was all blood, plasma and drug trials.