The UK-based De-La-rue has won an $18 million tender to work on Rwanda’s identity card project. The company which brought in sophisticated equipments to finish the work is now capturing biometric data in which a digital picture, electronic fingerprint and signature are included.

The government has registered 5.3 million Rwandans above 16 years who will be given new national identity cards. The government has decided to fund the project but every card holder will be obliged to pay Rwf500 (US$0.9) to get it. A chip will be installed in these smart cards to make sure the information about the service providers such as the banks, insurance companies and revenue authority corresponds with the information on the identity card.

The ID will be swiped through an electronic machine that will read the information on the card and the fingerprints. Rwanda will be the first country on the continent to issue smart cards though Senegal and South Africa have the first phase of the electronic national identity cards, according to a report by East African Business Week.  

City workers in New York aren’t happy with hand geometry scanners that have been installed to punch in and out of work, according to an Associated Press story.

Some are calling the timekeeping system an intrusion on professionals who never used to think twice about putting in extra time on a project they cared about, and could rely on human managers to exercise a little flexibility on matters regarding work hours.

But the city is justifying the scanners, saying it expects to save $60 million per year by modernizing a complicated record-keeping system that has required one full-time timekeeper for every 100 to 250 employees.

Read the full story here.  

Motorola, Inc. has been selected by the West Virginia State Police to deploy its Printrak Biometric Identification Solution. Motorola’s latest biometric product features new algorithms for improved analysis of multi-modal biometric data delivering ten print, latent, palm print and facial images. The software also has been optimized for interoperable file exchange among agencies.

Tampa, Fla.-based Ceelox Inc. has former U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft touting the company’s technology. The fledgling biometrics firm has left the research and development stage and is now marketing its data security products.

NEC Corporation and Daon have been working for several months on Japan’s new multi-modal biometrically enabled border control. The system went live in November 2007 and was used to successfully process more than 10,000 travelers through Narita International Airport during the first morning of operation. Fingerprints and facial images are obtained from persons entering the country who are 16 years of age and older (except legally exempted person). Fully integrated with the NEC technology, Daon’s identity management system provides the centralized and client biometric infrastructure for the border clearance and automated system, with DaonEngine™ serving as the platform and additional Daon software being used at over 500 immigration workstations at over 34 airports and seaports.  

Animetrics and Duos Technologies, Inc. have partnered to make Animetrics’ technology the core engine for the process of facial recognition in Duos applications. . Duos will employ Animetrics 2Dto3D face biometrics technology in its ongoing development of gateway applications for its proprietary video analytics. Duos Technologies, headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida, offers systems based on its proprietary object detection and behavioral analysis software. Animetrics Inc., headquartered in Conway, NH, is a developer of 3D imaging for facial biometric systems. The Animetrics90 product family is based on the company’s core algorithms comprised of five patent-pending 2Dto3D face creation technologies allowing for pose and lighting invariant face recognition across a broad range of operating conditions.  

Heathrow Airport owner BAA is pulling a biometric fingerprint system at the new Terminal 5 (T5) the day before the building opens to the public due to concerns about the data protection of fingerprint information from passengers. BAA said in a statement, “Following a meeting with all relevant parties, including the Information Commissioner and the Border and Immigration Agency, the introduction of fingerprinting for domestic passengers and passengers transferring onto domestic flights at Heathrow will be temporarily delayed.” In the interim, BAA will open Heathrow T5 and use a photographic identification system, which is already in place.  

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has begun collecting additional fingerprints from international visitors arriving at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK). The change is part of the department’s upgrade from two- to 10-fingerprint collection.

JFK is the tenth port of entry to begin collecting 10 fingerprints from international visitors. US VISIT is evaluating 10 fingerprint collection at these airports. It will use the results to inform the deployment of the technology to the remaining air, sea and land border ports of entry that will transition to collecting 10 fingerprints by December 2008.

“Biometrics have revolutionized our ability to prevent dangerous people from entering the United States since 2004. Our upgrade to 10 fingerprint collection builds on our success, enabling us to focus more attention on stopping potential security risks,” US VISIT Director Robert Mocny said.  

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has begun collecting additional fingerprints from international visitors arriving at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK). The change is part of the department’s upgrade from two- to 10-fingerprint collection. JFK is the tenth port of entry to begin collecting 10 fingerprints from international visitors. US VISIT is evaluating 10 fingerprint collection at these airports. It will use the results to inform the deployment of the technology to the remaining air, sea and land border ports of entry that will transition to collecting 10 fingerprints by December 2008.

Precise Biometrics has been awarded an order to supply 50,000 licenses of Precise Match-on-Card™ for an employee ID card program to one of the largest Police Departments in the USA. Precise Biometrics supplies the technology to enable the Police Department to prove their employees’ identities in a fast, secure and reliable way. The project will run during 2008 and 2009, and may result in additional hardware orders. Swedish company Precise Biometrics has more than 12 million deployed card licenses and close to 80 million contracted licenses for its Match-on-Card technology.