New book on how biometrics age

Book Review: Age Factors in Biometric Processing (M2SYS Blog)

Mr. Fairhurst assembles his book into four primary sections:

1.) An introduction to the aging process and an overview of biometric systems – setting the stage for discussion on how aging can effect individual biometric modalities
2.) A study of how aging effects specific biometric modalities including physiological and behavioral modalities
3.) A closer look at the topic of aging from the perspective of an industrial viewpoint, a forensics perspective, and the impact of aging on one of the more popular biometric modalities – facial recognition
4.) A look to the future and based on the conclusions of this book, what type and the scope of research that may be needed in the future

May BiometricChat with Maxine Most from Acuity Market Intelligence

UPDATE II:
The transcript of the chat is now available.

UPDATE and bump:
John has published the questions to be discussed Thursday:

1. How can biometric vendors take a more active role in educating the public on misunderstandings about the technology to promote wider acceptance?

2. What are some of the mistakes you have observed from biometric vendors taking products to market that could have been avoided or may have adversely affected the success of their solutions? What advice can you offer vendors who are researching and developing new products and solutions that can help them to be successful?

3. What is your interpretation of recent biometric M&A activity and what types of trends can we expect to see in the near future?

4. Will the increased demand for biometric technology help to open the door for its use in additional verticals? If so, what markets do you feel can benefit the most from the technology?

5. I remember some time ago you were predicting that the private sector and public sector would generate about the same amount of revenue by 2014. Is that prediction still on target and what private sector markets to you see getting the most traction?

6. What area of the world do you feel holds the most potential for continued growth of biometric deployments and why?

Tuesday, May 13, 2013

When:
May 23, 2013 11:00 am EST, 8:00 am PST, 16:00 pm BST, 17:00 pm (CEST), 23:00 pm (SGT), 0:00 (JST)

Where:
tweetchat.com/room/biometricchat (or Twitter hashtag #biometricchat)

Host:
John at M2SYS

Guest:
Maxine Most of Acuity Market Intelligence. Maxine is a biometrics industry consultant. Acuity Market Intelligence has been involved in the biometrics marketplace for more than 10 years.

Topics:

• Biometrics strategic market development
• Maxine’s interpretation of industry mergers & acquisitions
• What other markets could benefit from biometric technology
• Private and public sector growth discrepancies
• What areas of the world will continue to see strong growth for biometric deployments in the future

What is the BiometricChat:
Janet Fouts, at her blog, describes the format:

Twitter chats, sometimes known as a Twitter party or a tweet chat, happen when a group of people all tweet about the same topic using a specific tag (#) called a hashtag that allows it to be followed on Twitter. The chats are at a specific time and often repeat weekly or bi-weekly or are only at announced times.

There's more really good information at the link for those who might be wondering what this whole tweet chat thing is all about.

This one, the #biometricchat,  is a discussion about a different topic of interest in the biometrics landscape each month. It's like an interview you can participate in.



More at the M2SYS blog.


Earlier topics have included:
Privacy
Mobile biometrics
Workforce management
Biometrics in the cloud
Law enforcement
Privacy again
Biometrics for global development
Large-scale deployments
The global biometrics industry


Modalities such as iris and voice have also come in for individual attention.

I always enjoy these. Many thanks to John at M2SYS for putting these together.

Twitter: March Biometric Chat - Large Scale Deployments with Accenture's Cyrille Bataller

UPDATE March 28, 2013:
John has posted the chat transcript at Storify.





When:
March 28, 2013 11:00 am EST, 8:00 am PST, 16:00 pm BST, 17:00 pm (CEST), 23:00 pm (SGT), 0:00 (JST)

Where:
tweetchat.com/room/biometricchat (or Twitter hashtag #biometricchat)

What:
Tweet chat on the use of biometric identification for border control, ePassports, visa applications, and voter registration with @CyrilleBataller of @Accenture. Mr. Bataller appears in the video Biometrics and Privacy: A Positive Match available at the Accenture site here. I'd embed it if I could.

Topics:
Topics: The use of biometrics to secure borders, process visa applications & ePassports, and secure voting registries

More at the M2SYS blog.
UPDATE: Questions for the upcoming chat

Earlier topics have included:
Privacy
Mobile biometrics
Workforce management
Biometrics in the cloud
Law enforcement
Privacy again
Biometrics for global development

Modalities such as iris and voice have also come in for individual attention.

I always enjoy these. Many thanks to John at M2SYS for putting these together.

Feb. 21, 2013: Biometric Chat on Biometrics & Development

UPDATE and bumped:

Today's biometric chat was perhaps the best yet. Having two interviewees sitting across the internet table from John at M2SYS worked quite well. With the two participants, Alan Gelb and Julia Clark, multiple lines of conversation could develop while, thanks to John and the other participants, they remained relevant to each other and the larger topic of Biometrics and Development. The resulting conversation was faster-paced than usual and a lot of ground was covered. Many thanks to John, Alan and Julia and all who participated.

In case you missed it, or would like a chance to review it, John has posted the transcript at Storify.

If you're interested in the subject pf biometrics (and if you're here, you probably are) please consider joining in the next one either to ask questions, to answer them, or to give your opinion on topics of interest in biometrics and identity management.

Originally published on Feb. 12, 2013

When:
February 21, 2013 - 11:00 am EST, 8:00 am PST, 16:00 pm BST, 17:00 pm (CEST), 23:00 pm (SGT), 0:00 (JST)

Where:
tweetchat.com/room/biometricchat (or Twitter hashtag #biometricchat)

What:
Tweet chat on the use of biometric identification in developing countries to help bridge the identity gap with Alan Gelb (@AlanHGelb) and Julia Clark (@juliamgclark) from the Center for Global Development.

Topics:
How biometric identification helps to promote development, risks and challenges of using biometrics, emerging trends and their implications, and more.

More at the M2SYS blog.


Earlier topics have included privacy, mobile biometrics, workforce management, biometrics in the cloud, law enforcement, privacy again and modalities such as iris and voice.

I always enjoy these. Many thanks to John at M2SYS for putting these together.

Thursday on Twitter: Biometric Chat on Biometrics & Privacy

UPDATE:
The transcript of the Biometric Chat on Privacy is here.

When:
January 10, 2013 11:00 am EST, 8:00 am PST, 16:00 pm BST, 17:00 pm (CEST), 23:00 pm (SGT), 0:00 (JST)

Where:
tweetchat.com/room/biometricchat (or Twitter hashtag #biometricchat)

What:
Tweet chat on iris biometrics technology with Shaun Dakin (@ShaunDakin, @PrivacyCamp), Data Privacy Advocate and Founder of #privchat

Topics:
What technologies have negative impacts on privacy, how the privacy industry works for change, privacy and biometrics, effectiveness of “privacy by design” and “privacy impact assessments,” biometrics as a “privacy protector,” and more.

More at the M2SYS blog.


Earlier topics have included privacy, mobile biometrics, workforce management, biometrics in the cloud, law enforcement, and modalities such as iris and voice.

I always enjoy these and judging by participation at the last one, they're gaining some traction with ID professionals. Many thanks to John at M2SYS for putting these together.

Today on Twitter: August Biometric Chat Features BIO-key Intl & M2SYS Discussing Biometrics for Single Sign-on

August #biometricchat Features @BiokeyIntl to Discuss #Biometrics for SSO (M2SYS blog)

When: August 23, 2012 11:00 am EST, 8:00 am PST, 16:00 pm BST, 17:00 pm (CEST), 23:00 pm (SGT), 0:00 (JST)

Where: tweetchat.com (hashtag #biometricchat)

What: Tweet chat on biometrics for single sign-on (SSO) with @BIOkeyIntl

Topics: Biometrics as an alternative to passwords and PINs, the economic hardship of data breaches, the effectiveness of national data breach awareness campaigns, industries affected the most by weak SSO systems, non-traditional industries that can benefit from SSO, and more!

More info at the M2SYS blog here.

That's about two hours from now.

More on Biometrics in Hotels

John has a great post about biometrics in hotels at the M2SYS blog. It looks like fingerprint room access is finally becoming a reality.

Use of Biometrics for Hotel Room Access Portends Strong Potential for Market (M2SYS Blog)

Seems that CADD Emirates out of the United Arab Emirates has implemented a hotel patron biometrics identification system that is replacing electronic key cards. The idea is to ditch the infamous electronic swipe cards that we all know so well in place of a biometric fingerprinting system that scans hotel patrons and allows them access to their rooms by placing their finger on a device, presumably attached to the hotel room door (the article didn’t go into a lot of details about the infrastructure of the deployment). The hotel hopes that , “the system will be able to remember guest preferences from hotel-to-hotel in locations across the globe, with information saved against their fingerprints.”

Read the whole thing.

The Cloud & Biometric ID Management

Cloud-Based Application Development for Biometrics Data (M2SYS Blog)

More and more international governments and security-intensive companies are using biometric-enabled identity cards for their employees and professionals. As this technology becomes more widespread, the need to make this technology more mobile, and more accessible is becoming clear. Experts all over the globe are pushing for cloud-based biometrics for greater efficiency and mobility.

More at the link.

First Biometric Chat of 2012: Biometrics for Workforce Management - Feb 9, 11 AM EST

Topics: Advantages of using biometrics, ROI metrics, common misunderstandings of biometrics, future trends (M2SYS)

We took a temporary hiatus in January, but we are back in February with a fresh new subject to discuss on the monthly #biometricchat – biometrics in workforce management. Happy to announce that this month’s guest for the chat will be Scott Barker, a product marketing manager with Kronos, Inc. (@Kronosinc on Twitter) who will be answering questions about the applications of biometric employee identification in workforce management[...]

John at M2SYS has done a lot to foster dialogue among biometric service providers, potential customers, the public and public advocates. These biometric chats are an important (and fun) part of that.

Here are some instructions on how to participate.

It's very convenient to use tweetchat.com (http://tweetchat.com/room/biometricchat).

U.S. Military Departs Iraq, Takes Huge Biometric Database with It

U.S. Holds On to Biometrics Database of 3 Million Iraqis (Wired)

Two things are going on here. First, the United States is keeping the biometric (and other) information it gathered on some three million Iraqis over the length of its involvement in Iraq. Second, the military is not going to share that information with the Iraqi government it leaves behind, though it would be a simple and inexpensive thing to do. After all, information is not like cake — you can have your data and eat (or share) it, too.

The digital database is the property of Central Command’s intelligence shop in Tampa, Florida. It is conspicuously not in the control of the Iraqi government. Taylor says that the Iraqis might be able to access the database’s contents if they go “through the [U.S.] embassy” in Baghdad.

“Common sense-wise, we still have an interest there in helping our Iraqi partners,” Taylor explains, “and that information might be helpful to them should there be any issues.”

Taylor doesn’t say why the U.S. didn’t hand over its biometrics toy to the Iraqis. But there’s an obvious reason: Iraq’s sectarian divides have not healed. And a database filled with uber-specific information about approximately 10 percent of Iraq’s population could represent a wish list for a death squad, militia or insurgent group — some of which are aligned with Iraqi political parties.

This thought-provoking article addresses the issue of what happens to biometric information (or any other military intelligence, for that matter) when a military campaign is wound down.

Don't read it expecting firm and definitive answers, though. The article raises as many questions as it answers. John at the M2SYS blog does an excellent job of making explicit the questions the Wired article begs.

Answering the questions, however, will require a political, legal and military analysis rather than a technical analysis. After all, ID management is about people.

UPDATE: John at M2SYS, asks via Twitter:

I think it's highly unlikely that there will be a privacy backlash, at least among Iraqis.

The Iraqis (esp. Sunnis) friendly toward the U.S. military who had their biometrics captured are probably extremely relieved that the U.S. military has decided not to give the current Iraqi government their info. As for Iraqis of more violent intent, they're already lashing back and it's not over privacy concerns.

Once the U.S. military made the decision that it was going to keep the biometric database information — and it would have been truly astounding had it decided otherwise — exercising caution in how the data is shared lowers the risk that harm will come to individuals in the database and arguably demonstrates respect for the privacy of any ordinary Iraqis in the database.

It's also important to draw a contrast between violations of privacy that lead to more spam, phishing and identity fraud and the kind of privacy violation that can lead to political persecution, torture, prison and loss of life. My guess is that Iraqis worry more about the latter than the former and the former isn't very likely to result from the U.S. military's possession of the biometric data in question.

On another note, nothing prevents the U.S. from co-operating with the Iraqi government using the biometric data it has gathered on a case-by-case basis in the future. They simply decided not to turn over the whole database now, no questions asked.

My guest post at the M2SYS blog is up

Biometric Modalities: What makes a “Good Biometric?” (Blog.m2sys.com)

Biometrics Becoming Popular for Access Control at Rec Facilities

For many facilities, the Return on Investment is irresistible  (AthleticBusiness.com)

"Simply, we were hoping to utilize the technology that was available and also keep our expenses lower by not having to issue membership cards to every one of our members," LeeAnn Plumer, director of the Annapolis, Md., recreation and parks department, says of the biometrics-based access control system the department launched in January 2010 with the opening of the city's largest recreation center. "We were using new software that had the technology to implement biometrics, so we thought we'd give it a try and see how it worked for us."

Most rec departments using the technology are indeed still in the "give it a try" phase, and the reviews are mostly positive.

via @m2sys (Twitter)

Proud that this is our technology > #Biometrics Becoming Popular for Access Control at Rec Facilities

Deployments like these validate the efforts of all of us that are working to bring more efficient techniques to the challenge of identity management.

Earlier posts on deployments mentioned in the above linked article:
Poway Tells Skaters to Give Them the Finger (7/10/2010)
Montgomery recreation department moves ahead with finger vein scanners (11/17/2010)