"ImageWare(R) Systems, Inc. (AMEX:IW), a world leading developer and provider of identity management solutions, has agreed to co-sponsor, present and exhibit at the Global Border Control Technology Summit, the leading event for international governments, vendors and integrators involved in the global deployments of biometrics for travel documents, border control and national identity schemes. The Summit will be held at the Selfridge Hotel in London on July 11-12, 2005."
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"Ten potential pitfalls in the British government's plans for national identity cards were highlighted today in a damning report just 24 hours ahead of a crucial Commons vote on the issue.

Today's detailed investigation into the proposed scheme, by a panel of 14 professors at the London School of Economics, concludes that the current scheme is 'neither safe nor appropriate', and will cost double, triple or even quadruple the government's estimates."
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"Access control is central to biometric market development. The driving market forces for commercial biometric fingerprint systems relate to demand for more granular intelligent security systems that provide more access control. Intelligent networks are global. Biometrics is a part of these new markets for access control.

A system will have access control at some level. A very advanced feature set is implemented as software in combination with biometrics security systems. Middleware software has highly evolved voice feature systems that complement software systems that implement over 1,000 different functions for the desktop. It is in this context that biometrics are achieving market penetration.

Biometrics is a method of authentication based on physical or behavioral characteristics. Market growth depends on demand for a quick, secure way to identify people. The Internet security industry is composed of hardware tokens, software tokens, and biometrics. All are used for authentication. The hardware token segments are the most widely used authentication devices set to be replaced by fingerprint identification systems as they become more cost efficient.

Microsoft and the International Biometric Industry Association (IBIA), BioAPI consortium represent standards forces driving market growth. Microsoft is integrating biometric authentication technology into its next version of Windows, thereby validating the technology. The Microsoft implementation sends a message to the market that this technology is ready for widespread adoption.

The law enforcement markets are anticipated to continue to grow at a rapid pace, joined soon by commercial and healthcare markets. The availability of sensors at a cost below $5 is the most significant market driver. The higher price sensors are for door and other applications that people prefer a larger aspect presentation. Low cost and wide applicability of the technology will drive use in every industry.

U.S. Biometric Reader, Sensor, and Scanner Fingerprint equipment market forecasts indicate that markets at $142.4 million in 2004 are anticipated to continue growing through 2010 when they reach $12.6 billion."
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"ORLANDO (AP) — Brigitte Goersch placed her hand on a screen that copied her fingerprints, and she then stood in front of an ATM-like machine that captured an image of her eye's iris.

A private company hopes as many as 30,000 other people this year will follow the lead of the security chief at Orlando International Airport by offering up their biometric information for a program guaranteeing travelers an exclusive security line, and the promise of no random secondary pat-downs, in exchange for a background check by the Department of Homeland Security."

Is that all? And if we refuse? More random pat-downs? Shove your biometric beast up yr ass!
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Port of Palm Beach Using Biometrics to Track Visitors
"The system enables the port to have an accurate audit trail of visitors, including fingerprints, photos, time and date of arrival and departure, demographic information, company, purpose and more, and provides visitors with temporary badges."
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Mobile Biometrics Bring Changes In Our Everyday Lives
"Mike Sim is the co-founder of RF Intelligent Systems (mobID), Inc who has worked in the international biometric industry for more than nine years. He is an acknowledged Subject Matter Expert and co-inventor of the unique encryption processes that facilitate the storage of multiple biometrics with a two dimensional bar-code. His technology has already been used for mass passenger screening at an international airport and in Asia at the “Home of the Future”. His company now finds itself in the limelight with major security initiatives both here in the US and on the International front."
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Tag Your Children Now
"Kane County Sheriff Ken Ramsey unveiled Friday new technology that he hopes will help locate and identify missing children in the blink of an eye.
The $25,000 system, called iris recognition biometric technology, quickly takes a digital photograph of an eye. It was acquired with the help of a Massachusetts-based organization, The CHILD Project, a new not-for-profit organization that works with the Nation's Missing Children Organization (NMCO) to create a national database for law enforcement officials."
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There's been another huge credit card fraud uncovered. So what? Last time I checked, federal law states that, "credit card holders are liable for no more than $50 of unauthorized charges. MasterCard and some other companies offer zero liability to customers on fraud."
So the most one can lose is fifty measely bucks.

CNN's Carol Lynn's solution?

"Here's what I want: I want iris scans, I want fingerprinting... I want some promise from retailers that they are trying to protect me... blah blah blah..."

Well, here's what I want: I'd like an end to her editorializing. I'd like to see an end to the techno-police state - NOW!.
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"...find friends within a 10-block area..."

"When Dodgeball users 'check in' at a given locale by sending out a text message, it goes to all their preselected friends, as well as any friends of friends within a ten-block radius. A photo is sent along with the alert-which helps with identifying near strangers. Introductions are made, beer is poured, and then hookups can occur-casually, and in a low-pressure environment, all under the guise of knowing someone in common. It's Friendster, except in real time and in the real world."

Sounds fun. Also comes in handy if the government needs to locate you and ten of your friends - quickly.
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Locked Out!
"With the recent power outage in Dubai, many establishment and home owners could not enter their premises as their card technology would not work whereas buildings using SimonsVoss digital locking systems and transponder technology did not face such a problem. SimonsVoss Technologies AG, the leading German Access Control and Biometrics Company, has developed the latest digital locking and access control system, which does not require electricity to work."
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Cash, Charge, or Fingerprint?
"The owner of BioPay LLC, which makes the technology used at the store, predicts the finger scan soon will be ubiquitous, offering speed and convenience for consumers. But civil libertarians have raised privacy concerns, citing some recent problems. In February, ChoicePoint Inc., a background-screening company that collects personal information -- including biometric data -- said it accidentally sold more than 100,000 individual profiles to identity thieves."
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The Dangers Of Medical e-Records
"'You won't believe what I've found,' the young woman's friend wrote in an email. "Check out this weblink." She clicked on the address. It took her straight to a publicly accessible part of the St Vincent's Hospital website, where her personal medical file had been posted along with the files of 12 others.

Containing information she had disclosed to no one other than the hospital - involving self-harm, mental illness and gender identity - the inadvertent revelation of such personal details was devastating. The hospital quickly removed the files but, for her, the damage was done.

Most of us are seduced by the convenience of technology, and often live a life connected by mobiles, email and the internet. But it is only a matter of time, some say, before "function creep" takes us to places we thought we would never go. Where the possible becomes the inevitable, where governments, business and industry will do it just because they can.

The changes will seem minor at first. But experts warn the barriers to accessing personal medical information will soon be broken down, and the privacy we had once taken for granted will soon disappear."
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"Imagine a computer database which catalogued your entire social network: the email, home address, and sensitive details of all your friends, and consequently, all of their friends in a massive interlinked web. What if this service also archived all of your personal preferences on everything from books to movies to music? And if it also categorized your political views, club associations, previous jobs, educational background, and who you are dating?

How about if this information was available not only to government spooks but the general public free of charge?

Sounds like a hellish vision of the future, right? But this program is not the devilish spawn of DARPA’s Total Information Awareness program, nor the secret plans of “private” data miners like Choicepoint or Axciom.

The Beast system is here right now. And worst of all, people are voluntarily giving up this information, with some updating their profile every day with their latest personal details.

Welcome to TheFaceBook.com..."
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FaceKey
"FaceKey Corp. is a biometrics technology provider that provides supreme security solutions for their customers by utilizing proprietary biometric technologies that identify and allow access to authorized personnel. FaceKey's technology combines face and fingerprint recognition providing the highest level of security available, reducing fraud and providing better accountability. By combining these identification technologies, FaceKey's products are used for a wide variety of applications ranging from securing corporations' confidential areas and PC access to effectively monitoring time and attendance of employees."
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They've taken Morroco
"Cogent Inc. said Friday it received a $34 million contract to install its Automated Fingerprint Identification System for a national identification program in Morocco.

LiveScan4ALL?
"Biometrics4ALL, Inc., announced today that the company has launched a FBI certified LiveScan4ALL product suite. The LiveScan systems are in compliance with the FBI's Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System (IAFIS) highest quality specification (the AppendixF). The LiveScan4ALL product suite revolutionizes the LiveScan industry by offering a more intuitive graphical user interface and a technology that actually prevents operators from making manual mistakes during descriptor entry, hence significantly reducing submission rejections.

Live scans 4 all? Are these people insane? They're not even trying to hide it anymore!
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3.9 Million Identities Lost Forever
"In one of the largest breaches of data security to date, CitiFinancial, the consumer finance subsidiary of Citigroup, announced yesterday that a box of computer tapes containing information on 3.9 million customers was lost by United Parcel Service last month, while in transit to a credit reporting agency.

Executives at Citigroup said the tapes were picked up by U.P.S. early in May and had not been seen since."
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First They Came To The Airports
"...the TSA's 'Registered Traveler' program, which is free for now while in its test phase, has been capped at 10,000 participants, and cards obtained at one airport don't work at others.

The company behind (this) is Verified Identity Pass Inc., which Brill founded in 2003 in hopes of creating a nationwide, voluntary system that would give pre-screened people a dedicated fast lane for entering secure areas - not only at airports but also office buildings, power plants and stadiums."

It starts with the airports and ends with entrance to your own office, car, and home. Quite handy - until the system fails you. Or jails you.
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click me

ANNAPOLIS- "Maryland drivers beware- the police are using military technology to watch you.

The Maryland State Police are using night vision goggles to catch seatbelt violators. Officials say 40 percent of drivers do not use their seat belts at night.

They say the goggles allow troopers to see inside the cars from a distance, making it easier to ticket violators.

The state police is just one of 13,000 agencies nationwide now using the goggles."

What else are they looking for?
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Smile Straphangers! You're On High-Tech Digital Camera
"The Metropolitan Transportation Authority has installed 120 high-tech digital cameras in nine subway stations along the N, D, and F lines as a deterrent against crime and terrorism... 'These nine stations send a message to the bad guys: When you enter this station, everyone who enters this station is recorded. Your video, your picture, will remain secure from seven to 30 days'..."
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Government Seeks More Access To Your Data
"As Congress debates renewal of the USA PATRIOT Act and whether to expand the FBI's power to seek records without the approval of a judge or grand jury, the Bush administration has asked the 2nd Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in New York to restore its ability to compel Internet service providers to turn over information about their customers or subscribers."
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School Kids Fingerprinted In Ireland
"A SWANKY school in South Dublin is fingerprinting its kids and using a biometric fingerprint recognition system to make sure the children don’t skip class..."
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Butler Group Rejects Biometrics
"The planned holding of the information on a central database gives rise to unease about who will be allowed access. Not to mention the fact that the Government seems indifferent about the creation of an additional central database with yet another identification number."
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Chertoff Tours Los Angeles Airport
"Calling the airport a 'symbol to the enemy,' Chertoff applauded measures already taken to protect it but said there is still more to do.
That includes beefing up security of airport infrastructure, using more detection systems to spot microscopic amounts of explosives on passengers, and expanding a program in which frequent fliers submit biometrics data likes fingerprints in advance so they can move quickly through inspections."
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