VoiceTrust announced it has been awarded a grant from the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Development Private Sector Investment (PSI) Program to roll out biometric identity systems in Pakistan.

The systems being brought to Pakistan, called Proof-of-Life, is intended to assist with identification authentication for services such as pension disbursement and other financial services by replacing PINs and passwords with voice biometrics. 

The UK Border Agency has announced intentions to require applicants applying for six-month stays from outside the European Economic Area to use biometric residency permits starting at the end of February 2012, according to an HR Magazine article.

The permits will replace the multiple documents employers in the country use to ensure their employees are legal residents as well as make the whole process simpler and more secure. 

A new report on the market for biometric technology in India forecasted a 42.4% compound annual growth rate for the industry in the four year span. TechNavio, a market intelligence reporting company, reviews and forecasts the period of 2010 through 2014 from

In addition to forecasting the growth of the market, the report also identifies key vendors in the country such as biometrics developers Sagem Morpho Securities, Suprema and Nippon Electric Company (NEC) and each one’s respective strengths and weaknesses. Beyond this, the report also identifies expected market drivers, growth challenges and market threats.  

Precise Biometrics has developed a new line of “smart cases” for brands of tablets and smart phones to be released in 2012 and 2013. The new smart cases have built-in card reader and fingerprint sensor enabling users to both secure their devices as well as replace various password-based security for protected online sites and applications.

The various problems Precise expects their new smart cases to solve include enabling government workers that need to scan smart cards in order to gain access to secured sites to access those sites from their mobile device. 

Biometric technology expedites lunch lines

The Pinellas County School Board District in Clearwater, Fla. has paired up with technology provider Fujitsu Frontech North America to provide a reliable and secure method of handling school food service program transactions.

With more than 102,000 students, the district is the seventh largest in the state and the 24th largest in the nation. Efficiently serving this large population has, at times, proven challenging for the district, particularly in the school cafeteria snack and lunch lines. 

The government of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao Philippines announced plans to begin searching for and ghost employees and absent employees by incorporating a biometric time and attendance system for government employees across the region, according to an Inquirer News article.

Governor-in-charge Mujiv Hataman says ghost employee problem in the Department of Education is specifically bad as he noticed a trend of teachers on the payroll without addresses or assigned schools on their record. 

The Malaysian Election Commission has decided to forego the use of the biometric voter verification system for the country’s upcoming elections, according to an article form The Star.

Malaysian Election Commission Chairman, Tan Sri Abdul Aziz Mohd Yusof, said the commission may still use the biometric system for future elections, but that they will be focusing on how viable the use of indelible ink is in these elections.