News and insight into biometric identification and authentication

Visa waiver program to use biometrics

Thursday, June 5, 2008

The Department of Homeland Security will begin using a combination of “behavior, biography, biometrics and travel history” as it decides which passengers to admit into the country using the U.S. “visa waiver” program.

The program enables citizens from certain countries to enter without visa applications. The U.S. will begin implementing the changes starting in August. There are currently 27 countries whose citizens are not required to obtain visas for U.S. entry. [end] 

Visa is teaming with Turkey’s Akbank and vendor DeviceFidelity to launch a new microSD-based contactless mobile payment system.

Akbank customers will be able to insert DeviceFidelity’s In2Pay microSD into their handsets’ memory card slots, turning them into contactless payments devices that can be used with Visa payWave terminals.

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Visa Europe has announced that 12 million of its contactless payment cards are expected to be in circulation in the UK by the end of this year - a marked leap from the previously estimated 10 million.

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AT&T Inc., Verizon Wireless and T-Mobile USA are reportedly teaming up to launch a contactless mobile payment pilot in Atlanta and three other cities, according to bloomberg.com.

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Multicard, a business unit of Identive Group, announced that it has been selected by Rabobank to provide personalization and fulfillment services for the Dutch bank’s latest application of its MiniTix cashless e-payment solution.

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Bank of America will be testing NFC payments enabled through microSD cards, a spokesperson for the bank tells NFCNews.com. The program will begin in September and run through the end of the year in New York.

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Spectators attending the first ever Youth Olympic Games in Singapore this month are being issued Visa pre-paid cards that act as tickets, transport passes and payment cards, according to finextra.com.

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