New Nealand: Biometrics allow for the return of ten-year passports

Prime Minister John Key: 10-year passports in six months (New Zealand Herald)

New Zealand moved to five-year passports in 2005 in response to security concerns sparked by the 2001 terrorist attacks in the US...

In addition, developments in biometric technology have allayed concerns about passport fraud and counterfeiting.

Market forecasts: India & SE Asia/ANZ

India to grow at a CAGR of 44.22 percent over the period 2013-2018 (Report Linker)

South East Asia and ANZ is forecast to grow at a CAGR of 15.82 percent over the period 2013-2018 (Companies and Markets)

Biometrics headline of the year

2013 is just over half complete but I just don't see how this one can be topped:

Six million streak through SmartGate

Thanks are due the New Zealand Customs Service both for contributions to security, and for advancements in the art of the press release.

New Zealand extending online government services with ID innovation

Govt-backed online identity system – ‘RealMe’ ready to go (Scoop)

From this week, New Zealanders can begin signing up for RealMe - the only online identity verification service backed by the New Zealand government.

Instead of waiting in line with paper identity documents each time they want a service requiring ID from a government or private sector organisation, people will soon be able to prove their identity online with RealMe and apply for services from home.

New Zealand seems to be quietly building a very advanced ID infrastructure that links government identity documents, government services and the postal service together through biometrics, facial recognition in this case.

Is the Five Country Conference hitting its stride on ID?

The US, UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand (Five Country Conference) share information, including biometrics, on foreign visitors. Reading between the lines of the article linked below, they appear to hitting their stride.

Biometrics has "just completely changed the way we do business," DHS director of US-VISIT. (Fierce Homeland Security)

See also:
Privacy Impact Assessment for the US-VISIT Five Country Joint Enrollment and Information-Sharing Project (2009 pdf at DHS.gov)

New Zealand investigates passport fraud with facial recognition

Checks reveal 65 false passports (The New Zealand Herald)

Of the 65 suspected false passports discovered by the DIA, 30 cases have been sent to the police national headquarters.

Of those, 21 were referred to relevant police districts for follow up. Five have been convicted, three are before the courts, two have been filed and 11 remain under investigation.

In the five cases prosecuted, eight people were convicted on a range of charges, with sentences ranging from conviction and discharge up to several months' home detention.

When it comes to faking their passports, Kiwis don't play.

Following Sex Offender Scandal, New Zealand Looks to Biometrics for Teacher Vetting

Sex teacher report a 'serious wake up call' - Parata (TVNZ)

Education Minister Hekia Parata released the findings of a Ministerial Inquiry today which outlines 35 recommendations to close the "significant gap" in the employment process for hiring teachers.

The recommendations include a police check for anyone who moves from a provisional teaching license to full registration and teachers informing schools if they change their name.

The Government is also considering making teachers use biometric photo identification when they switch schools.

The inquiry was ordered earlier this year after it was revealed sex offender Te Rito Henry Miki, 40, managed to work in six schools over four years despite a supervision order that prevented him from coming into contact with children.

See also:
One in Six Sex Offenders Lives Digital Double Life

The post dealing with the above article and the issues it raises is:
ID Isn't Perfect. How Perfect Can (or Should) It Be?

Fake Passports - Kiwis Don't Play

Two years in the Hoosegow and then Deportation (3 News)

Immigration NZ's Steve Stuart said that while the ability to detect false passports had improved over the years, criminals had also improved their techniques for forging and stealing passports.

Immigration officials were now fingerprinting asylum seekers and people referred at the border and checking these fingerprints with other countries. High-tech passport scanners and collection of facial biometric data were also being used.

Biometrics will be used in all immigration visa application checks when the roll-out of a new Immigration Global Management System begins next year.

See also: New Zealand Passport checks find surge in fakes


h/t @m2sys

Biometric Information Sharing and the Five Country Conference

[UPDATE: Paid subscription required to view older articles]
Biometrics programs prompt privacy concerns (Embassy.ca) 

The linked article contains a wealth of information on the mechanics of how Canada, the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand (the Five Country Conference) have agreed to share biometric information on people seeking entrance into the named countries.

A third party did a privacy impact assessment of the sharing protocol in 2009 with recommendations to mitigate privacy risks, to which all government agencies involved agreed and began implementing. Canada is working with its Five Country Conference partners to ensure privacy by, for instance, making sure all fingerprints are anonymously shared and can't be linked to a person unless a match is made, destroying fingerprints once a search is done, and exchanging more information only after a match is made.

They use encryption and security tools to protect files shared electronically. Everything passes through a secure central server in Australia.

Canada knows information shared between countries is being kept secure because they've each signed memoranda of understanding with each other governing how the information is to be managed, said Ms. Caron.

New Zealand Passport checks find surge in fakes

Biometric matching has already led to one conviction (The New Zealand Herald)

In a bid to "cleanse" the database before online renewal begins, 4.5 million passport photos were matched against each other by facial recognition technology - a total of 21 trillion biometric checks.

Of those, 210,000 possible matches had to be checked by human eyes and most were discovered to be clerical or imaging errors or identical twins.

But the checks found 47 false passports.

47 might not seem like that many but New Zealand isn't a huge country.

When I looked it up to see how many Kiwis there are I found this government estimate of 4,434,186, which leads me to assume that there was more than one photo per passport holder because there were more photos analysed (4.5 million) than New Zealand has citizens.

Immigration New Zealand goes biometric

New Zealand's immigration authorities have announced the introduction of new biometric technology to bolster border security and assist with visa processing times (VisaBureau.com via @Allevate)

"Biometrics provides better tools which allow Immigration to confirm an individual’s identity and protect New Zealand’s border," Dr Coleman said.

"The changes will protect people from identity theft and prevent the misuse of passports or visas by fraudsters and criminals. A further benefit is that the new technology will speed up visa application processing, as we are more readily able to confirm who we’re dealing with."

New Zealand ID Management: New Possibilities

NZ Post's hi-tech photo capture system (Stuff.co.nz)

New Zealand Post has taken its first step towards a future in biometrics.

It is trialling a hi-tech system that takes passport and digital photos in 14 of its Postshops, including its Manners St branch in central Wellington.

The software behind the system could also let NZ Post capture fingerprints and voice samples for identification purposes.

There's also an associated "secure transactions" scheme in the works.

Australia-New Zealand Biometrics Institute eyes state of the industry

I love the metaphors that pop up in biometrics news headlines.
In this case, the eyes are the biometric modality that makes an appearance (see above).

Follows up 2010 survey, which showed increasing acceptance of biometrics (Computerworld)

A/NZ Biometrics Institute
But don't go there hoping to find the 2010 survey results. They're behind a pay wall.

The Five Country Conference biometric programme

NZ tightens border security (AustralianNetworks.com)

The agreement is part of a Five Country Conference biometric programme between New Zealand, Canada, the United States, Australia and the United Kingdom..

It used to be the Four Country Conference. New Zealand makes five.

More here. (TVNZ.co.nz)