Japanese vascular biometrics tech in the banking news...

Hitachi: Malaysian bank keen to adopt biometric reader technology (Astro AWANI)

A Malaysian bank is keen to adopt Hitachi Asia Ltd's finger vein authentication technology solution.

Its senior vice-president/general manager ICT Solutions Business Regional, Mitsuhisa Kajiyoshi, said the new solution would enable the customers to easily access their online bank accounts and authorise payments within seconds, without the need for personal identification numbers, passwords or authentication codes.

Fujitsu Looks To Secure Card Payments With Biometric Data (Tech Week Europe)

Fujitsu says its new PalmSecure ID Match device will make identity verification and card payments more secure by combining a chip and PIN system with its palm-vein scanning technology for multi-factor authentication.

The unit is similar to current point of sale systems and comprises a multi-card reader, its PalmSecure sensor, a touchscreen and a processor board powered by an ARM chip.

It really does seem that Japanese tech firms dominate in hand-vein biometrics.

Hungary: Some fans bristle at stadium palm vein scanners

Soccer-Ferencvaros fans upset by biometric 'intrusion' (Yahoo!)

Szebasztian Huber, editor of the Fradi fan website ulloi129.hu said many fans also fear that technological developments would help clubs pass Hungarian Football Association fines -- which they regard as too strict -- on to them.

Stricter stadium rules also puzzle fans because the number of violent incidents in and around Hungarian stadiums is much lower than 10 or 20 years ago, he added.

"The culture of soccer fans is different everywhere, in some countries (vein scanners) would be tolerated, while elsewhere fans could be upset," Huber said. "Launching the system highlighting its comfort functions could increase tolerance."

It's pretty small...

World's smallest, slimmest and lightest contact-free vein sensor (PhysOrg) It's surprisingly small (6 mm thick) so it's about the size of a stack of 4 US quarter-dollar coins. Click over there and see. There are a couple of good pictures.

Hygiene factors helping to boost the touch-less sensing industry goes a ways toward describing the niche Fujitsu's vascular technologies target.

Maryland school halts biometric deployment in lunchrooms

Controversial Carroll school palm scanners discontinued (Baltimore Sun)

School Superintendent Stephen Guthrie announced his decision Wednesday to halt use of the system, called PalmSecure, and to ask officials to look at other options. His announcement came after a meeting with County Commissioner Doug Howard, who cited concerns among parents who worried about possible security breaches.

In announcing his decision, Guthrie said he wanted to avoid alienating what he called a "core group" of a few community members who raised the concerns.

He said he believes the system is secure.

Cases like this are fairly rare.

School administrators should be prepared for a vocal minority to raise security and privacy concerns.

In most cases where schools implement biometric point of sale terminals for school lunch administration, these concerns are overcome for the vast majority of parents through good communication, an opt-out mechanism and making sure that students aren't enrolled in a system before parents have heard about it.

We just love it. No one wants to go back.

Palm scanners get thumbs up in schools, hospitals (USA Today)

Palm-scanning technology is popping up nationwide as a bona fide biometric tracker of identities, and it appears poised to make the jump from schools and hospitals to other sectors of the economy including ATM usage and retail. It also has applications as a secure identifier for cloud computing.

Here's how it works: Using the same near-infrared technology that comes in a TV remote control or Nintendo Wii video game, the device takes a super high-resolution infrared photograph of the vein pattern just below a person's skin. That image, between 1.5 and 2.5 square inches, is recorded and digitized.

It's not hard to see why palm vein scanners are attractive in many applications. Users don't have to touch anything, they're fast, and the biometric is more difficult than some others to spoof.

Shrinking the Sensor

Fujitsu makes vascular biometric sensor small enough for tablet hardware (Softpedia)

Japanese biometric ATM reads your palm, tells fortune

The pun was just too good (engadget). The article is funny, too.

Melbourne Area Libraries to Debut DNA-Vein Time Clocks?

Melboure, Australia has given the world a lot: Kylie Minogue, Cate Blanchette, the 1956 Summer Olympics, Rio Tinto, and the Melbourne Fringe Festival. Today, if the Australian Associated Press, is to be believed, Melbourne (Monash, really) is on the brink of giving us (or rather its librarians) a time and attendance system unlike any the world has ever seen.

Monash City Council's human resources department came up with the plan, which would require library staff to provide DNA samples and have their veins scanned using pattern-recognition technology to clock on and off for a shift. (AAP)

This is amazing. A multi-modal combination DNA-Vein biometric time clock will make for exceedingly accurate record keeping and a high assurance that the library staff are being paid only for time actually worked.

Some, however, may wonder why the libraries need a vein scanner attached to their DNA time clocks. That, gentle reader, is because identical twins have identical DNA. Identical twin librarians using a DNA time clock would quickly find themselves in a scene worthy of a Eugène Ionesco play:

Twin 1: G'day twin. Lovely day to be a librarian. (clocks in with DNA time clock) Ouch!

Twin 2: Right you are, Twin! (clocks Twin 1 out with DNA time clock) Ouch! (they both proceed to the stacks)

Head Librarian: Crikey! What are you two doing here? The attendance record shows that one of you was here for 5 seconds this morning.

Twin 2: No, Ma'am. We've both been here since 8:30.

Head Librarian: Well, that's not what it says here. 

Well, perhaps more Monty Python than Eugène Ionesco, but you get the picture. The vein reader attached to the DNA time clock is absolutely necessary to prevent these and other potentially embarrassing and time consuming situations from vexing library staff.


Additional Information:
Neither of these two straight news pieces mention DNA at all:

Finger scanners to keep tabs on librarians (ABC)
Melbourne council searches in vein for tardy staff *(CRN.com.au)  

David Heath at IT Wire seems pretty sure that the explanation for the Australian Associated Press story is other than that someone has invented a DNA-Vein time clock. You'll have to click through to see his explanation for yourself.

In the light of this additional information I must acknowledge the possibility that the Australian Associated Press writer who penned the above linked article is mistaken about biometrics as well as the possibility that DNA time clocks (with or without vein scanners) don't exist.

*Bonus: New (to me) biometrics pun! 

Medical ID Theft and Biometrics

Hospital starts scanning vein patterns to bring up medical records (Yahoo News)

According to a study created by the Ponemon Institute in 2010, over 1.4 million adults were victims of identity theft in 2009. Medical identity theft typically includes gaining access to pharmaceuticals or getting fraudulent insurance payouts.

Seldom does a day go by that I don't learn about some social ill caused by hacking society's ID systems or the ways biometrics are being applied in order to make it harder.

NY hospital implements biometric technology to identify patients

Modality: Palm vein (News-Medical.net)

The advanced technology of PatientSecure helps to ensure each patient is correctly "linked" to the right medical record, a task which is not always as straightforward as it sounds. For example, at the medical center alone, two or more patients share the same first and last names more than 125,000 times.

A real tipping point for this industry will be when adopters of biometric ID management solutions begin wringing price reductions out of their insurance companies. Does cutting off the wrong person's leg cost more than a biometric ID system?

Local Hospital Uses Biometric Palm Scans to ID Patients

From SanDiego6.com

"PatientSecure is a nonintrusive and very precise method of identifying patients, ensuring they are matched to their own personal medical records and protecting them against medical fraud and identity theft," said Dan Gross, executive vice president of hospital operations for Sharp HealthCare.

The system described in the article seems to serve as an anti-fraud business solution rather than to increase patient safety as in this case, not that there's anything wrong with that.