ePassports get Floating Heads

Here is the first video that I have seen of Samsung's new ePassport prototype. It features a small back-lit screen as part of the ID card that, in this case, can be seen displaying a semi-creepy floating head. Encoding of this kind or "3D" or multi-image biometric information would go a long way to eliminate problems like those recently seen at Manchester airport.



I want one.

Daily Headers: May 22, 2009

Report: CCTV Schemes in City and Town Centers Have Little Effect on Crime
The Guardian
Alan Travis

• The use of closed-circuit television in cities, town centers and public housing estates does not have a significant effect on crime, according to Home Office-funded research to be distributed to all police forces in England and Wales this summer.
  
• The review of 44 research studies on CCTV schemes by the Campbell Collaboration found that they do have a modest impact on crime overall, but are at their most effective in cutting vehicle crime in car parks, especially when used alongside improved lighting and the introduction of security guards.
  
• The Campbell Collaboration report says that CCTV is now the single most heavily-funded crime prevention measure operating outside the criminal justice system and its rapid growth has come with a huge price tag. It adds that £170m was spent on CCTV schemes in town and city centerse, car parks and residential areas between 1999 and 2001 alone. "Over the last decade, CCTV accounted for more than three-quarters of total spending on crime prevention by the British Home Office," the report says.
  
• Am going to look into this one a bit further. Definitely some additional factors involved in the effectiveness of CCTV grids, including camera placement and image quality. Interested to dig a bit deeper and read the actual report. I'll report back.

Swiss Narrowly Accept Biometric Passport
Associated Press
Eliane Engeler

• By a narrow margin, Swiss voters accepted an overhaul of the country's passport system to include travel documents equipped with biometric data -- a change needed for Switzerland to stay on the United States' visa waiver program.
  
• The biometric passport was approved by 50.1 percent to 49.9 percent margin, reflecting widespread concern over government intrusion into people's privacy in a country that does not belong to the European Union and has long valued its independence.
  
• Switzerland joined Europe's control-free travel zone last year, which requires countries to register citizens' facial and fingerprint images on an electronic chip in the passport.
  
• Most of the 27 European Union members have issued biometric passports since 2006. But Switzerland has until March 2010 to put in place the new travel document, according to European law.
  
• Great to see this widespread deployment continue. DHS recently announced initiatives to improve current passport technology -- it looks like it's taking off worldwide.
  

Some People Really 'Never Forget A Face'
California Science & Technology News

• A new study suggests that skill in facial recognition might vary widely among humans. Previous research has identified as much as 2 percent of the population as having "face-blindness," or prosopagnosia, a condition characterized by great difficulty in recognizing faces. For the first time, this new research shows that others excel in face recognition, indicating that the trait could be on a spectrum, with prosopagnosics on the low end and super-recognizers at the high end.
  
• The research involved administering standardized facial recognition tests. The super-recognizers scored far above average on these tests—higher than any of the normal control subjects.
  
• One woman in the study said she had identified another woman on the street who served as her as a waitress five years earlier in a different city. Critically, she was able to confirm that the other woman had in fact been a waitress in the different city. Often, super-recognizers are able to recognize another person despite significant changes in appearance, such as aging or a different hair color.
  
• The human mind never fails to amaze me -- and disappoint at the same time.

Manchester Airport Downgrades Matching Threshold on Facial Scanners

Those customer complaints about excessive wait times and congestion going through security in the UK must be piling up these days -- in a leaked memo, Manchester Airport allegedly re-calibrated its facial scanner machines from alerting security personnel if the passenger had less than a 80% likeness to their passport photograph to only calling out matches at less than 30%.

Deemed an "unacceptable" security risk by some, this change was prompted by an increased number of "false positives" not recognizing law-abiding passengers as the person pictured in their passport.

There has been no official explanation as to why the change occurred, and some facial recognition experts are up in arms, claiming that using a 30% match threshold is essentially useless. A memo noted, "[The fact that] the machines do not operate at 100% is unacceptable. In addition it would be interesting to know why the acceptance level has been allowed to decrease."

As another article also describes, with such low calibration levels, Kevin Spacey and Winona Ryder would easily pass through holding Osama Bin Laden's passport. With these odds, I bet could pass through security as Colin Firth, no problem.

I'll be interested to see if an official response to this "leaked memo" is released that explains the drastic drop in standards and their reason for the large number of false-positives. It could be the result of their technology choice, or just the result of poor, old, and varied photos common to passports. Likely both.

More British Airports to get Face Rec

In a proclaimed effort to “put British workers first,” ten more airports will be getting the same facial recognition system currently in use at Heathrow. The technology is aimed to crack down on individuals attempting to enter the country using fake passports. Though controlling the use of forged or false documents has obvious national security implications, it seems odd to me that the case for the systems would be made with such an immigration labor focus.

Said Home Secretary Jacqui Smith:

"Even in a downturn, we still need migrants - but we should be more selective about their skills levels, and we should do more to put British workers first."

Well, whatever the rationale, at least they will avoid Japan’s recent problems with their own airport passport checks.

IHF Roundup: New iPhone App Aids Gamblers, Photoshop Trumps Laptops, and Other Top Stories This Week

News from all corners of the country this week. Let's get started.

Casinos across the country were warned about an iPhone/iPod Touch application that counts cards, and according to the Nevada Gaming Commission, helps players beat the house in blackjack. If caught, I wouldn't be surprised if gamblers use this to fight off security guards. It must be more successful than trying to make a run for it.

At Black Hat DC this week, Vietnamese researchers showed the vulnerabilities of facial recognition software as a secure authentication method for laptops. With digital images and tweaked angles and lighting, they were able to bypass the biometrics on Lenovo, Asus and Toshiba laptops and gain access to the computer. Looks like traditional typed log-ins and passwords will hold the edge, at least for now.

Back in California, last week's DMV controversy has not died down in the least. A key legislative committee blocked the DMV's request to utilize facial recognition software to match up driver's license photographs with the entire DMV database of headshots. Fears that this system could make its way into police hands to monitor people at public gatherings are still rampant. So far, privacy groups: 1 DMV: 0. However, I'm sure this battle is far from over.

Did I mention Einstein was reborn? In a robot's body. The resemblance is uncanny! The researchers are still working on improving the IQ score.

Biometrics Finding Its Way into Customs Checkpoints

It's already been an active new year for customs checkpoints.

Earlier this week, European Parliament approved the use of biometric data in EU passports, and yesterday the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced that upgraded biometric technology has been installed at every major port of entry, and that most visitors should expect to use the new technology upon entering the country.

The European Parliament will amend a 2004 regulation to include fingerprints and facial patterns in passports issued in the EU, thus making it more difficult for criminals to forge identification documents and/or travel under stolen passports. Additionally, the new EU regulations will set the minimum age to take fingerprints at twelve, as fingerprints change as children grow. Instead of being included in their parent's passports, all children will be required to carry their own in an effort to make child trafficking more difficult.

Back in the U.S., the DHS announced that it has updated biometric technology in its US-VISIT program, which records biographic information to conduct security checks and verify identities of international visitors to the United States. The program is also expanding the categories of non-U.S. citizens required to provide digital fingerprints and a photograph upon entry to the U.S. in December, and requiring 10 fingerprint collections rather than two. Many experts agree that collecting a full set increases matching accuracy and also reduces the chance of misidentification.

With increased wait times expected and obstacles associated with integrating the various Extended Access Control (EAC) systems now in use across the globe, it will take years for travelers and customs officials to get acclimated to the new procedures and documents. In the meantime, bring a magazine for that next trip through customs.