12

NEWS/COMMENT

Biometric Technology Today July/August 2011

...Continued from page 3incorporates an international railway station and immigration plus customs facilities for the Malay peninsula, experienced a fingerprint biometric systems failure with a new system that was introduced on 1 June, causing long delays for passengers.

The new system requires foreigners entering and leaving Malaysia to have their left and right index fingers scanned at entry and exit points.

Indigo Identityware secures e-prescriptions with finger biometrics

Indigo Identityware has launched biometric authentication for

electronic prescriptions.Indigo Identityware’s eSign capabilities allow

physicians to sign prescriptions electronically using finger biometrics or proximity cards. As a secondary form of authentication, a four digit PIN (personal identification number) can be used.

Under the US Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH), physicians are required to write 40% of their overall prescriptions electronically in order to qualify for ‘meaningful use’ rewards.

SmartMetric finger accessed health card targets consumers

SmartMetric is to release a finger-print-activated portable health

records card for consumers with diabe-tes, a heart condition, or other chronic or serious medical condition.

Access to medical information is secure and protected by the owner’s fingerprint. The company will be pricing the card with a mini USB card reader adapter. An electronic imaging capture and transfer service will be managed by independent companies who will be bonded and audited to ensure record security. Retail pricing of the card will be below $89.

VoiceTrust Holding boosts market presence

VoiceTrust Holding has set up a partnership with United Bank

Limited (UBL) and acquired VoiceCash Middle East in a bid to expand its presence in the global mobile pay-ments market.

UBL and VoiceTrust Holding signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) covering a joint venture in Pakistan as well as a launch of international programmes. This partnership will combine UBL’s branchless banking services in Pakistan and its inter-national branch network with VoiceTrust’s Proof-of-Life and international mobile wallet programmes. Various services will be shortly announced covering G2P (Government 2 Person) payments, mobile payments and international remittances.

VoiceTrust Holding also announced the acquisition of VoiceCash Middle East for an undisclosed amount. The acquired entity has been renamed as VoiceTrust eServices MENA (Middle East North Africa).

“This is a strategic acquisition as it strengthens our expansion into the MENA region as well as into the fast growing finan-cial services space of prepaid and mobile payments. Voice biometrics has the potential to revolutionise customer authentication and enable financial inclusion in emerging markets,” says Tariq Habib, group CEO of VoiceTrust Holding.

Morpho teams with SELEX Elsag

Morpho (Safran group) and SELEX Elsag (Finmeccanica Group) have

partnered to develop commercial and industrial operations in the field of road enforcement and safety equipment.

The pair hopes to take advantage of the complementary nature of their technologies in the fields of vehicle identification, speed meas-urement and red light violation.

Russian bank tests ATM lie detector

Russia’s biggest retail bank is testing an ATM with a built-in lie detector intend-

ed to prevent consumer credit fraud, according to a New York Times report.

New customers could talk to the machine to apply for a credit card. It uses voice analysis software to help assess whether the person is truthfully answering questions.

Facial recognition is making great strides in the consumer arena. Facebook has rolled out its facial recognition feature globally and has sparked

controversy worldwide. Privacy concerns are at the heart of the debate, as Facebook users have not had the opportunity to opt out of the technology. According to the US Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) Facebook holds 60 billion photos.

EPIC and the UK Information Commissioner’s office are just two parties who have raised privacy concerns with Facebook.

The gaming sector is also embracing facial recognition. In Tokyo, Sony unveiled its evolving facial recognition program for the Playstation Vita. It seems likely that the younger generation, growing up now, will be exposed to biometrics on a daily basis.

Many school children in the UK are used to providing their biometrics every day, providing finger biometrics for access to school meals. The proposed Protection of Freedoms legislation may have far

reaching effects on such systems, perhaps

beyond what is intended (see article page 5). Achieving the optimum balance between privacy and progress is complex and never more so when technologies begin to converge. As mass market adoption of longstanding biometric technologies gets underway, newer technologies follow closely behind. A number of recent market reports on the biometrics sector have identified exciting trends in the sector, the mobile biometrics market for one, which is forecast to see fivefold growth by 2015. Look out for more coverage of this area in the coming issues of Biometric Technology Today.

Contactless biometrics and gesture recognition are also gaining ground, while researchers working on gait recognition are reporting breakthroughs.

The convergence of CCTV and biometrics is another one to watch. Analyst company HSRC predicts a new multibillion dollar security market of CCTV-based remote biometric and behavioural suspect detection. With more than 45m CCTV surveillance systems in the world, this is clearly a fusion of technologies that needs to be handled with care as the privacy implications are huge.

Tracey Caldwell

COMMENT

healthcare

road safety

industry

finance