News and insight into biometric identification and authentication

Australian welfare system implementing biometrics

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Centrelink, Australia’s welfare call center system, has implemented voice biometrics to automate the client authentication previously performed by call center employees, according to an Australian IT article. Telecommunications company Telstra, whom had a preexisting contract with Centrelink, has provided the $2 million technology upgrade with voice pattern recognition software supplied by technology companies Nuance and Kaz.


Customers using the system are prompted to speak a random series of digits to have their voice patterns matched against the stored template. Further, to ensure the security of their clients’ biometric information, Centrelink enlisted technology testers PureHack whom declared the system up to snuff. The new system is expected to save both time and costs associated with authentication of the 28 million calls the center receives each year.

Read the full story here[end] 

Australian airline QANTAS is trailing new smart card-based check-in system designed to cut down on time spent in queues, according to The Australian.

Qantas will also be testing personal electronic bag tags for upper-tier frequent fliers that can automatically store details of up to four flights.

read more »

The Gold Coast International Airport in Queensland, Australia has become the seventh Australian airport to be outfitted with the biometric SmartGates developed by biometrics company SAGEM Australasia, according to an IT News article.

read more »

New Delhi is planning to launch smart ID cards next year to help the poor and illiterate receive benefits from government welfare programs, according to The Press Trust of India.

read more »

Legislation from Ireland’s Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food is being finalized, which would require all horses to be tagged with an ID micro-chip and valid passport issued from an approved stud-book or agency, according to local news reports.

read more »

India’s Social Welfare Department has implemented the Beggars Personal Management System to track beggars using biometrics. This effort is to fight recent large-scale deaths and mismanagement within colonies, according to a Deccan Herald article.

read more »

Ghana’s major electronic clearing and payment system could provide enough space and communication capabilities to enable adding new purposes for removing ghost payrollers, according to a Peace FM Online article.

read more »