News and insight into biometric identification and authentication

Australia looks at facial recognition for law enforcement

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Victoria, a southeast state in Australia, is about to launch a face recognition system called iFace to assist its law enforcement personnel in apprehending wanted people. But experts warn that the technology is not yet advanced enough to be used as evidence in court, according to an IT Wire article.

One such expert, senior photographic technologist for the FBI Richard Vorder Bruegge, spoke his warnings at the Biometrics Institute’s 11th Australian conference where he was a keynote speaker.


Bruegge’s main point in his warning of how facial recognition technology is used in law enforcement revolves around its relatively high false negative and false positive rates wherein the chances of the wrong suspect being charged or the right suspect being let go are too high to accept.

While Australian officials in favor of using the technology are still pushing for an increase in use, they do acknowledge the early purposes must be limited to investigation and intelligence gathering as well s make sure agencies utilizing the technology are properly disciplined in its use.

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Neurotechnology announced that it has developed three versions of embedded solutions for Android-powered devices such as smart phones and tablets.

Specifically, Neurotechnology has ported its VeriFinger Embedded software development kit (SDK), which authenticates user identities via fingerprints, VeriLook Embedded SDK, which authenticates user identities via facial recognition, and MegaMatcher Embedded SDK, which authenticates user identities via both fingerprints and facial recognition. A version that utilizes iris recognition also is in the works.

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The facial recognition feature that’s part of the most recent incarnation of the Android mobile device operating system called Ice Cream Sandwich is being panned as very easily fooled, according to an Information Week article.

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Federal Trade Commission staff is seeking public comments on the issues raised at a FTC workshop exploring facial recognition technology and the privacy and security implications raised by its increasing use.

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A new Morpho company under the Safran group has been launched called MorphoTrust USA.

The new company, which was formed after the acquisition of three divisions and the headquarters of former biometrics developer L-1 Identity Solutions, will serve as an identity solutions provider dedicated to the U.S. market only.

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Viv.ie, a start-up located in Ireland working on face recognition technology, announced it is finishing a new type of facial recognition technology that does away with a number of the security pitfalls current facial recognition technology is commonly guilty of, according to a Sydney Morning Herald article.

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The Department of Motor Vehicles in Rhode Island is employing a facial recognition-based system in its license and identification card issuance programs in an effort to curb identity fraud, according to a Turn to 10 article.

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