Canada military to spread biometric knowledge domestically

Canadian Forces Expands Its Biometric Capabilities But Remains Silent On The Details (Ottawa Citizen)

...[I]n an April 2010 directive issued by then Chief of the Defence Staff Gen. Walter Natynczyk, the military was ordered to expand such capabilities beyond those being detained in Afghanistan.

The directive called on Canadian Forces planners to “shape” research conducted by the DND’s science organization, Defence Research and Development Canada, so they could identify new future technologies that could improve the collection of biometric data.
...
The directive was aimed at dealing with the Afghanistan mission. But it didn’t explain whether the call to expand biometric capabilities to support other government departments, as well as the need to conduct new research, was for future international missions, support for domestic operations or a combination of both.

Fingerprint ID system taken offline, jail releases wrong man

This is why Intake-and-Release biometrics are gaining popularity in jail management circles...

Escaped Inmate Captured As Investigation Continues At The Chatham County Jail  (Old link dead)
The Georgia jail that released the wrong prisoner ordinarily uses fingerprint biometrics to ensure that the correct person is being set free. The system, however, was not in use at the time.

UPDATE: There is still video available of the story.

Australia changes privacy law regarding criminal investigations

Federal Government removes ban on biometric data used for crime-fighting

The Gillard Government's new privacy legislation has removed the ban on biometric data being handed to crime-fighting agencies.

Officials say the move could be of immense benefit in fighting crime, but privacy lobbyists liken it to a "Big Brother" development.

The Attorney-General's Department yesterday revealed police would be able to ask private companies - including shops, pubs and clubs - to hand over patrons' facial scans.

"These changes will allow, for example, a pub to pass on to police a face scan of someone involved in a glassing attack," a spokeswoman said.

"Or, police could ask a government agency to help them identify an alleged murderer through matching an image obtained via CCTV (closed circuit television) with client photos."

Note: "Facial scan" is another term for "Photo."

If the police can't ask for evidence helpful in solving a crime, why have police (or privately owned CCTV cameras) in the first place?

Biometric technology, like all analytic tools, works both ways. It can eliminate suspects as well as indicting them.

All in: Second round of Fiji biometric voter enrollment closes

Fiji 

Fiji's Voter Registration Breaks Half a Million (Press Release - PR Newswire)

Fiji has marked another significant milestone in its path to true parliamentary democracy with the announcement that more than half a million Fijians have registered to vote in the scheduled elections in 2014. The 504,588 registered Fijian voters represent more than 80% of the estimated number of eligible voters, and registration will continue in 2013, notably for Fijians living overseas.
...
Registration will now close while the Elections Office processes the new registrations and cleanses the list of fraudulent or duplicate entries. After the first round of registration, 30 trained clerks scrutinised the voter list and removed 1,441 problematic entries. "The easy and quick identification of these problematic entries is proof that the Electronic Registration System does exactly what it is meant to do," the Attorney-General said.

Back in September, we noted that "close to half a million" (488,734) Fijians had registered in the biometric voter ID system. That figure represented about 80% of the eligible population, so it's not surprising that enrollment is leveling off. There aren't that many people left to enroll.

The voter ID will also be valid for access to a range of other government services. (Fiji Times)

Congratulations to Ghana

It looks like Ghana pulled off the most pervasive national biometrically verified elections ever attempted. Brazil probably biometrically verifies more voters than Ghana just did but Brazil is taking a gradual approach to biometric voter verification, scheduled for complete coverage by 2018.

Ghana went straight for blanket coverage and by most accounts did quite well. Of course nothing is perfect. Due to a lack of election materials and some problems with the biometric machinery, some polling places opened late on Friday and reopened on Saturday which wasn't in the original program.

I had an email exchange over the weekend with a colleague in Accra who has worked with electoral biometrics in Ghana. It leads me to believe that this article posted at Modern Ghana gets things just about right.

Training In Use Of Biometric Must Be Top Priority In Next Election—CODEO Recommends

The Coalition of Domestic Election Observers (CODEO) has called on the Electoral Commission (EC) to actively engage electoral officers and all persons associated with the Biometric Verification Machines process in intensive education prior to future elections.
...
According to CODEO however, “the problems and lapses in the voting process on December 7 which resulted in the adjournment of the process did not fundamentally undermine the overall integrity of the conduct of the polling, of counting and collation of ballots… In spite of the logistical and technical challenges, CODEO is of the view that the December Presidential and General elections have been well conducted.”

We've said before, training electoral workers and informing the public is a HUGE part of the challenge of implementing biometric elections. It's also one of the most expensive parts — more expensive than the technology (if done correctly), even in places with low labor costs.

Biometrics, like elections, are about people. So, congratulations to the people of Ghana on the success of the biometric voter enrollment and verification project.

Good face rec article at the BBC

Can disguises fool surveillance technology? (BBC)

putting a scarf over the mouth and nose, or simply wearing dark glasses could fool the system. However, this is beginning to change, says Shengcai Liao, an assistant professor at the Center for Biometrics and Security Research in Beijing, China. He says new techniques are being developed that can use information from the nose or mouth alone if the eyes are occluded, or from the eyes and eyebrows if a scarf is covering the lower part of the face. "It's not possible to recognize a fully occluded face, but we can currently recognize faces with 30% or even 50% occlusion," he said. "We have even had success performing recognition from a mouth alone - something that it would be very difficult for a human to do."

But what about other countermeasures, such as those used by McAfee, which included skin darkening, facial distortion and colouring his hair?

I'm still a fan of CV Dazzle. If you're going to change your appearance to "jam" facial recognition systems, you can make a bolder fashion statement than wearing a ski mask. Well, I guess Ski Mask is a pretty bold fashion statement, but click over to CV Dazzle for other options that don't scream "I just robbed a bank."

Howie Woo also has a more cheery alternative for those committed to the mask, but his approach has its own risks.

Ghana Votes

Skimming the early reports, it appears that some number of polling places opened late due to some logistical issues and some people who presented themselves at the polls were not able to pass muster with the biometric verification.

The Ghana News Agency (GNA) is doing a lot of data-centered reporting from a lot of polling places scattered around the country. Their Politics page is here.

Here's a good example of what GNA is reporting:

Peaceful voting so far but not without hitches (GNA)

A thorough analysis of the biometric voter systems' performance is, of course, going to have to wait.

[9:30 EST]
Good background story at Modern Ghana from Accra, the capital: Ghana votes in tightly contested presidentials poll.

While many polling stations opened on time, a number started late due to the delayed delivery of materials, causing frustration among voters and officials. Voter biometric fingerprinting was also being used for the first time.

[9:40 EST]
Ghana Web also has a good page: Ghana Elections Updates: Five Presidential Candidates Vote. Scroll down to the bottom for minute-by-minute updates from different places — a woman going into labor and voting with her sister before going to the hospital, politicians voting, technical problems, etc. The earliest updates are at the bottom.

Eye biometrics with a mobile phone camera

Mobile technology is crying out for better user authentication. Fingerprints would seem like a good match, but there's a hardware chicken-and-egg problem: no fingerprint sensor hardware means no apps and no apps means no manufacturer has decided (long-term) to drive up the cost of their handset to provide a feature few may use.

That means biometric app developers interested in verification using mobile devices have concentrated on modalities that can use the sensors that are already ubiquitous in mobile hardware.

A phone without a microphone isn't a phone anymore so the developers of voice biometrics are in pretty good shape. And though a camera isn't a strictly necessary feature on a mobile device, they all seem to have them. That invites facial recognition, and eye-based biometrics developers into the mobile world.

All three (face, eye, voice) face challenges.

Scan Eyes to unlock spartphones (PSFK)
If I'm reading this article correctly, or more accurately making the correct inference from the picture that accompanies it*, EyeVerify seems to be side-stepping the challenges associated with iris biometrics and camera resolution by switching to an analysis of sclera vasculation — the veins on the white part — for mobile verification.

That's pretty cool.

See also:
Mobile Devices and Biometric Modalities


* According to the EyeVerify site, that was the correct inference.

Ghana: Day before election, the focus is on politics

Ghana: Election Fever Grips the Nation (All Africa)

On the day before Ghana's sixth presidential election, the issue of the biometric voter system has faded into the background and the issues that more typically surround elections have come to the forefront.

The Electoral Commission, the biometric system vendor, Ghanaian citizens in general and citizens of other aspiring democracies will certainly be hoping that continues to be the case over the next few days.

"The best way to kill a good idea is to implement it badly"

‘Cash transfer’ in urban centres for foodgrains, LPG, etc., is better than picking some remote rural district only to claim that the scheme has failed. (The Hindu Business Line)

The best way to kill a good idea is to implement it badly. One hopes that direct cash transfer of government funds under various welfare schemes to the bank accounts of their intended beneficiaries does not meet this fate. For, it is too good an idea to be discarded, notwithstanding all the vested interests that stand to lose from its success. All the more reason, then, for the Government to take extra care in demonstrating its feasibility on the ground, thereby silencing the prophets of doom – including those for whom welfare programmes are a means for lining their own pockets. It is in this context that reports of beneficiaries not receiving any money in their bank accounts, even in select blocks where direct payment of subsidy against kerosene purchases at market rates is being tried out on a pilot scale, make for disturbing reading. It is almost as though there is organised sabotage at work."

The unnamed author of this opinion piece certainly seems to understand the stakes involved in the next phase of India's UID project.

Things are about to get real.

Biometrics help ID fugitive officer at border crossing

Former officer arrested at bridge (Brownsville Herald)

He was arrested and accused in 2008 of being involved in unlawful firearm purchases and failing to appear at his arraignment, according to a 2009 news release from then-U.S. Attorney Tim Johnson.

Duenez walked up to the bridge and presented his Texas driver’s license and U.S. birth certificate, CBP said in a news release.

“Preliminary checks revealed that the individual, later identified as Armando Duenez, was a possible match to an arrest warrant and was referred to secondary for further inspection,” the press release states.

During secondary inspection, biometric checks through CBP and law-enforcement databases matched him to a U.S. Marshals warrant, according to CBP.

First reports on Ghana biometric election

Though Friday is election day in Ghana, the first real votes were cast yesterday by polling workers and electoral security personnel.

The Daily Guide has a run-down of how things went: Soldiers, Police Go Wild Over Missing Names.

It is not entirely clear from the article which part of the ID management process (if any) isn't performing optimally.

Is voice the killer app for mobile ID?

The Rise of Voice Biometrics for Mobile Phones (MIT Technology Review) 

Analysis of voice verification technology from a security angleThe question of course is which biometric system to use. Face, fingerpint and iris recognition are all topics of intense research. But the most obvious choice for a mobile phone is surely voice identification. However, this approach has been plagued with problems.

For example, people’s voices can change dramatically when they are ill or in a hurry. What’s more, it’s relatively easy to record somebody’s voice during authentication and use that to break the system. So many groups have steered away from voice biometrics.

That could be set to change.

Mobile devices already contain the hardware required to deliver two biometric modalities: a camera for facial recognition and a microphone for voice. These modalities present challenges not usually associated with fingerprint biometrics — in the case of facial recognition challenges include lighting and the well-publicized photograph hack; for voice, background noise (etc.) can be a problem — but they offer the advantage that the hardware is "free" and never going to be yanked out of mobile devices. That's quite an advantage, and it points to why face and voice biometrics are the front-runners for handset biometrics.

This post has a longer discussion of mobile ID management and hardware.

Fingerprint sensors market $255 million by 2018

Global fingerprint sensors market the most popular form of biometric technology — The global fingerprint sensors market has been forecast to hit a value of US$255 million by 2018, driven by technological advancements and growth in several Internet applications. Social networks' demand for a robust mechanism for securing the digital identity of users represents another important growth driver. (Companies & Markets)

India UID: Things are about to get real

In simple terms, an ID project has two parts: enrollment and verification.

Enrollment is the process by which a user is vetted by, entered into, or purchases an ID management regime.

Verification is when the ID management solution actually has to fulfill its intended function.

You don't really know for certain if the key you just had made is going to open your front door until you try it. You won't know if the combination lock you just bought works until you try it. And India won't know how smoothly the UID-based system can provide a transition away from the subsidy system to the cash transfer system until it gives it a try.

Verification is where the rubber meets the road and India is about to take its first UID test drive as Dr Manmohan Singh, Prime Minister of India, announced last month the launch of a direct electronic cash transfer scheme leveraging India’s Unique Identification (UID) Programme. (FutureGov)

The government has announced that direct cash transfer of subsidies to the bank accounts of the recipients would start in 51 out of India’s 659 districts from January 2013 and would be gradually extended to the rest of the country by April 2014. (The Hindu)


Hopefully things go well. It's hard to overstate the challenge involved or the importance of the project's success.

Biometrics experts on technology & privacy

Biometrics and Privacy: A Positive Match (accenture) ...Views from leading biometrics specialists on how to reap the benefits offered by biometric solutions while preserving and enhancing the individual’s right to privacy.

The (5 min.) video is very well edited from interviews conducted among industry experts at the Biometrics 2012, London confab. It isn't posted in an embeddable format or I'd have it for you here, but it's very much clicking over to accenture to view it.

A threep-page pdf transcript of the quotes, with attribution, is here.

The quotes are excellent individually. Collectively they reflect that the people work in the biometrics industry have devoted considerable thought into the way biometric technologies can be used to improve people's lives.

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)

Ghana election context

ID management is about people.

The following article about Ghana isn't about biometrics but it provides some of the context in which Friday's biometric (registration and verification) elections will occur this Friday.

Biometrics have helped put rigorous ID management systems within the reach of organizations that couldn't obtain them before.

Coup era over, Ghana showcases African democracy (Las Vegas Sun)

"The reason Ghanaians are so drawn to democracy," analyst Jonah said, "is because they have seen that democracy in Western countries has brought a very high level of development, and they want to be like America, they want to be like Britain."

He said that if the rulers can deliver the services the people need, "Then people will say, `OK, democracy isn't just every four years selecting people. Democracy also brings development.'"

Ghana announces steps toward fingerprint passports

Biometric Passport Project Launched (Ghana.gov)

The Biometric Passport – This passport captures a holder’s facial features especially the iris as well as biometric data of finger-prints which link the holder to the passport. The mode of application and acquisition is that the owner’s biometric data is initially covered and later verified to ensure the right ownership on delivery. Biometric data of finger-prints, eyes and hand geometry are scientifically person-specific and scarcely vary in the life time of individual human beings.

Ghana biometric voter verification

Voter Verification Machines Are Reliable-EC
"The verification machines for this year’s general election were custom-made for Ghana and are more than 99 per cent reliable, says Mrs Gloria Asante, a Principal Electoral officer at the Electoral Commission."