What's Up With Facebook's ID Management/Logical Access Control?

An Exile From the Kingdom of Me (The New Yorker)

Meanwhile, I have sought redress against the charge that I am not who I say I am. I gave Facebook my cell-phone number so they could text me a confirmation code. The text arrived. I tried to log on, and entered the code. To my surprise, Facebook was not assuaged, and gave me another quiz.

Some will interpret the accumulation of obstacles between the user and their Facebook account as reflective of how prevalent unauthorized access to accounts has become. Others will suspect that Facebook is erecting the barriers in order to extract a personal information premium (mobile phone number) in exchange for for removing them.

Is Facebook using logical access control policies to gather information about its users that isn't needed purely for ID purposes? If so, is it likely to annoy Facebook users?

The linked piece is actually more about the ontology of friendship (also a very interesting topic!) than ID and privacy. It is highly thought-provoking and deserving of a quick click-and-read.

800,000 Biometric ID's Facilitate Development Schemes in Pakistan

Revolution on the cards (Dawn)

At first the government distributed the money through the Pakistan Post Office, the only system viable and available at the time the programme was implemented. Surprisingly, there was remarkably little abuse of the system thanks to the targeting and safeguards implemented into the scheme with the use of the poverty scorecard.

Plans are now under way to shift from using the post system to making transfers by electronic debit card or smart card into a bank account held by the women (transfers by cellphone had also been considered); the electronic debit card is biometric, tied to the owner’s thumbprint so that nobody but the legal holder of the card can use it.

So far 800,000 hold this biometric debit card and by the end of 2012, this number will go up to four million women.

Biometrics are really taking off among global development types.

For Now "Mobile Device" & "Security" Are Oxymorons

We need more secure mobile devices (Kenneth Van Wyk at Computerworld)

Usability advocates will argue that strong device passwords on mobile devices are annoying and won't be accepted by users. That's a fair argument -- strong passwords on a smartphone or tablet really are a hassle to work with. (Trust me.) Still, I'd prefer something stronger than four-digit PINs to unlock a device (and the data it holds). For the longer term, device vendors need to be shooting for stronger keying mechanisms -- perhaps a PIN in combination with a biometric like a fingerprint, facial pattern scan or voice recognition.

For now, though, what I suggest to people who are serious about the security of their mobile devices is...

See also:
Mobile Devices and Biometric Modalities

For other mobile posts, click the 'mobile' label in the list in the footer to this post below. Does anyone but me ever use those?

Biometric British Parole Officers?

Not Really but still interesting (The Guardian)

The machines ask offenders a series of questions, including whether they have changed their address or job and if they have been arrested since their last report or wish to speak to someone. Probation service managers will also be able to add individually tailored questions to those asked by the machines, which are believed to cost around £130,000 a year to operate.

An internal briefing document for London Probation managers, which has been obtained by the Observer, notes: "There are sensitivities around the project – there is union opposition to biometric reporting and media interest in the trial is anticipated. Biometric reporting potentially provides a significant opportunity to reduce the risk from offenders. A pilot is essential to demonstrate and quantify those benefits, so as to inform decisions about its use."

Malaysia: Thousands of Demonstrators Demand New Electoral Policies

Police violence marks Malaysia reform rally (Al Jazeera)

At least 25,000 demonstrators swamped Malaysia's capital Kuala Lumpur on Saturday, hoping to pressure Prime Minister Najib Razak's ruling coalition - which has held power for nearly 55 years - to overhaul electoral policies before polls that could be held as early as June.

Authorities insist the elections will be free and fair, rejecting activists' claims that the Election Commission is biased and that voter registration lists are tainted with fraudulent names.

Biometrics can help and, as we have seen, Malaysia has implemented biometric solutions in other areas.

Rival lawmakers Finding Common Ground on Privacy

The data battles (Pittsbutgh Post-Gazette)

The debate in the halls of Harrisburg took an unusual turn at a House State Government Committee meeting earlier this month when both of the committee's leaders, liberal Rep. Babette Josephs, D-Philadelphia, and conservative Rep. Daryl Metcalfe, R-Cranberry, voiced strong support for a state measure blocking implementation of a federal driver's license. The two are so prone to trading partisan barbs on the record that the committee meetings are casually referred to as "The Daryl and Babette Show."

But the so-called "REAL ID ban," Senate bill No. 354, which passed by overwhelming majorities in both houses, is one of a number of privacy bills that have come before the Legislature during the 2011-2012 session, creating, at times, odd bipartisan bed-fellowships.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: Often the most nuanced reporting on the complex issues surrounding privacy, ID management and biometrics are found in local, not national news outlets.

Not About Biometrics, Per Se, but...

NDC to ask for extension of registration exercise (Modern Ghana)

Information reaching the New Statesman indicates that the ruling National Democratic Congress, apparently unhappy with voter figures from perceived strongholds in the ongoing biometric registration exercise, is readying itself to call on the Electoral Commission for an extension of the registration exercise.

Interesting. Biometrics are about people.

National Level Biometric Deployment Trees & Forest

Though it's not my intention, I know it can seem like "All India, All the Time" around here. That's because India has set for itself the most ambitious ID management in human history, and therefore, India is providing more real world examples of the challenges inherent in very large scale biometric deployments than anywhere else. But India isn't necessarily unique in terms of the problems it is attempting to address with biometrics. All the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa), for example, face very similar challenges.

Forest and trees:
The information upon which blogs rely (the news articles below) provide great descriptions of individual trees. The four articles from the Indian press below can be seen as individual trees. The four sections in bold below the articles describe the species to which each different tree belongs.

The biometrics forest is made up of these, and more, species.

Examples:
I. Can Technology Fix India? (Dawn.com)

The dreams of modern India rarely make it to Rayagada. The Indians of these eastern forests forage for sago leaves and wild mango to survive. Barely a third can sign their names. Most live without electricity. Many have joined a Maoist insurgency fighting to overthrow the system.

Now, modernity is creeping in. Smart cards, fingerprint scanners and biometric identity software are transforming Rayagada into a laboratory to test a thesis with deep implications for the future of India: Can technology fix a nation?

Please click through to look at the pictures (and don't miss the comments).

As readers of this blog know, the short answer to the headline question is: No. Technology cannot fix India. ID management is about people. Biometrics can help (immensely!) with identity management challenges, but they cannot manage anything all by themselves.

II. Aadhaar card fraud exposes registration process errors (Times of India)

"The fraud proves that in a 100% Aadhaar-enrolled city like Hyderabad, 30,000 cards have been registered in a part of the city by exploiting those loopholes.

If:
♦ The Hyderabad population is 4,010,238
♦ The fraud number is 30,000 (article)
♦ 100% of Hyderabad is enrolled (article)

Then the rate of fraud is 0.0074 — less than 1%.

III. Identification of slum residents suspended (The Hindu)

The Chennai Corporation has suspended biometric identification of thousands of slum residents along 16 canals in the city, following stiff opposition from AIADMK councillors. The civic body had begun biometric identification of residents on slums near the Mambalam canal a few weeks ago, in order to issue smart cards, but AIADMK councillors opposed it, alleging that the list prepared by the previous DMK-led council had failed to include many actual beneficiaries. Once the biometric cards were issued, the residents of these slums were to be resettled.

I'm not even sure exactly what this is about but I have no doubt it's of significant local importance (I think it's about accounting for people who reside in areas we in the West would describe as "not Zoned Residential" so that they might be humanely resettled or legitimized as residents — such as when squatters are given title to their abodes).

IV. Persons Throng Aadhar Enrolment (Deccan Herald)


These four specifics are open to a more general interpretation.

I. The scale of the problems better ID management can help address
In the simplest terms, biometrics can really help people reduce the amount and severity of human suffering in their midst. What nobler aim can there be? Biometric Identity Management is about people.

II. Perfect is the enemy of Good
The proper metric for measuring biometric deployments is Return on Investment, not perfection. If half of the funds devoted to a current welfare program are stolen and a proposed biometric ID management system will be defrauded 10% of the time, what should you do?

III. Biometric technology is extremely flexible
Biometrics give talented and imaginative managers a tool that can be applied more problems than any one person can possibly comprehend.

IV: People want it.



Many (but obviously not all) of the posts here fall into one of the four categories above. India just happens to be providing a whole lot of examples.

Streamlining India's ID Bureaucracy

PAN and UID data set to be merged (The Asian Age)

The Nandan Nilekani-led Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) issues the Aadhaar number will be synchronised with the Permanent Account Number database maintained by the I-T department.

According to finance ministry while the Aadhaar will ensure effective disbursal of government schemes to citizens, the biometric PAN card database will help stop the forgery of PAN cards which begets economic crimes.

One of the more common complaints about India's UID project has to do with the sheer quantity of ID documents well-credentialed Indians have to keep up with.

Hopefully this is a step in the right direction.

Updated & Bumped: RNCOS Projects Biometrics CAGR of around 21% for 2012-2014

Global Facial Recognition Market to Witness Double Digit Growth (RNCOS Industry Research Solutions Press Release)

...Facial Recognition Technology has emerged as the fastest growing technology among the biometric technologies accepted worldwide and will continue to follow the same trend in future also by growing at a CAGR of around 31% during 2011-2013.

In other face-rec news:
New facial scanners at Heathrow to check the identity of millions (London Evening Standard)

UPDATE:

RNCOS projects growth of biometric market at a CAGR of around 21% during 2012-2014.

Readers who have reached this post through CV Dazzle may also find our post on Hyping Facial Recognition interesting. It describes the steps involved and the technical challenges associated with facial recognition surveillance deployments.

Biometrics as Leapfrogging Technology

High Tech Graft Busting Helps Feed Hungry Indians (Defiance, Ohio; The Crescent-News)

Just as the quandary of how to lay telephone lines to remote outposts disappeared with the arrival of cheap cellphones, Indian officials are hoping new technologies -- some yet to be discovered -- will tackle some of the country's most intractable problems: corruption, collapsing health and education systems, a dearth of opportunity for the poor.

"We see innovation as truly a game-changer, to move from incremental change to radical change," Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said last year in announcing plans for a $1 billion venture capital fund to seed revolutionary new technologies.

Well that makes more sense...

...Japanese "cardless" ATM's also use two pieces of additional information.

Scan Hand for ATM Cash, No Card Required (Discovery)

First, Ogaki Kyoritsu Bank (Japanese site) customers will register their biometric information at a branch, according to Gizmag's Darren Quick. Then they'll be able to go to one of the new ATMs and get cash simply by scanning a hand and then typing in their birthdate and a four-digit PIN. [Emphasis added]

Here's a recent article on the subject: Japanese biometric ATM reads your palm, tells fortune.

This post goes into some more detail about the impracticality of single factor biometric cash machines: Polish bank claims Europe's first biometric cash point.

Canada Immigration Minister Supports Biometric ID for Non-Citizen Permanent Residents

Feds to consider biometrics for permanent residents to combat fraud (Vancouver Sun)

"I think in principle, we should be doing everything we reasonably can to identify visitors or immigrants and ensure they don't represent a threat to Canada's safety, so biometrics is the best technical tool at our disposal and I think in principle, that it should be applied to not just temporary but also permanent residents," Kenney said Thursday after testifying before a Commons committee reviewing Bill C-31, the Protecting Canada's Immigration Act.

Biometric E-Gates in Dubai

Dubai: E-gate system to benefit biometric passport holders (Zawya)

A new smart e-Gate system which reads passport information and captures biometric data including facial recognition in 12 to 14 seconds has been launched at the Dubai International Airport yesterday.

Ghana Electoral Enrollment Update

Biometric registration: 10.5 million register so far (Ghana Web)

Highlights:

♦ 10.5 million prospective voters registered by the end of the third phase.

♦ The EC projects 13 million voter registrations.

♦ In 2008, 12.5 million people were registered to vote and 9 million votes were recorded.

♦ 4,000 people are suspected of multiple registration.

♦ Registration ends on May 5, 2012.

Source: CIA World Factbook

Total Population: 25,241,998 (July 2012 est.)

Age structure:

0-14 years: 36.5%
15-64 years: 60%
> 65 years: 3.6% (2011 est.)

Uniqueness That Can't Be Duplicated

UIDAI: Banking on biometrics to give you a unique identity (Economic Times)
An overview of biometrics history and the rationale for applying it to India.

Refugees, National ID, Immigration and Biometrics

Which country has the largest number of individual asylum seekers in the world?

It's South Africa.

South Africa is using biometrics for several ID management tasks: a population register, immigration and refugees. The synergies in integrating these three systems are obvious and might be extended to include South African welfare programs.

Smart ID cards use microchips that store biometric and other information that can be checked against databases. They are difficult to forge.

Special scanners “read” the bearer’s thumbprint and if it does not match that on the database, officials are alerted by the system.

Dlamini Zuma said the cards were key to a national identity system that would replace the present multiple systems used to manage the registration of births, marriages and deaths, and immigration data.

It would allow the biometric and biographical details of foreigners and South Africans to be digitally captured and stored in a single integrated system linked to those managing asylum seekers and refugees.

See also:
New ID smart card will be ‘no dompas’ (Business Day - S. Africa)

Burkina Faso, Come on down!

It's an extremely short article that doesn't lay out a plan for biometric elections but there is a little nugget at the end that says they're going to happen.

Burkina Faso latest West African nation to opt for biometric elections (Reuters)

French smart card maker Gemalto has been selected by the country's electoral authorities to provide biometric voter registration in a deal worth 11.6 billion CFA francs, according to the government statement.

Burkina Faso (Image: CIA World Factbook)

Burkina Faso: Population: 17,275,115 (July 2012 est.)

0-14 years: 45.8%
15-64 years: 51.7%
> 64 years : 2.5%   (2011 est.)

How Dr. Gabriella Nanci uses Biometrics to fight disease in Ghana

Must see video at the M2SYS blog. Click over there and watch it.

Development Agencies Using Biometrics to Reach Aid Recipients

Technology: helping people get both cash transfers and access to financial services (Relief Web)

Cash driven by truck to Northern Kenya would ordinarily mean leakage along the way. But the program, implemented by the Kenyan government, the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development, Oxfam, and Equity Bank uses biometrics, and smart cards to greatly reduce this risk and reach poor people more effectively and efficiently.