Biometric Update https://www.biometricupdate.com Fri, 13 May 2022 22:49:03 +0000 en-US hourly 1 66434804 Biometrics providers continue to bring leadership talent in (or back) https://www.biometricupdate.com/202205/biometrics-providers-continue-to-bring-leadership-talent-in-or-back https://www.biometricupdate.com/202205/biometrics-providers-continue-to-bring-leadership-talent-in-or-back#respond Fri, 13 May 2022 22:49:03 +0000 https://www.biometricupdate.com/?p=191709 Jumio, Socure, Veriff, OCR Labs, and SITA have each taken on new talent, including three c-suite executives and two regional sales leaders. Taken collectively, the hires could be seen as an indication of biometrics providers’ recruiting power within a highly competitive market.

Jumio taps new CFO amid high growth

Jumio has brought Susan Walker onboard as chief financial officer, adding experience in financial strategy with scaling technology companies as it marks elevated business growth. “Jumio is entering a new phase of growth and development and we are delighted to welcome Susan at such a critical moment in the company’s evolution,” comments Robert Prigge, CEO of Jumio. “Susan’s experience in leading financial strategy in scaling technology organizations will support our high-velocity goals.” Prior to her role at Jumio, Walker was most recently CFO at enterprise data loss prevention company Digital Guardian. She also served as CFO at Telestream, Avention, and Novell, and vice president of finance and corporate strategy at Aspen Aerogels in a career spanning over 20 years. Jumio showed strong business results in April with sales growth for its face biometrics identity proofing service leaping above 140 percent in the first quarter of 2022. It also hired Stuart Wells as its new chief technology officer and opened its Innovation Lab in San Diego.

Socure brings on new CISO to promote security and trust

Socure has announced the appointment of Chad Kalmes as its new CISO to direct its strategy and operations across the security, technology, and risk and compliance functions and help foster a culture of security and trust within the company. Kalmes brings over 20 years of experience in the information technology and security industries, serving senior roles at Protiviti, MobiTV, Optimizely, Twilio, and most recently, vice president of technology and risk at PagerDuty. His role at Socure will entail leadership with the company’s security and compliance strategy for its Socure ID+ selfie biometrics platform and collaborate with the product and engineering teams to implement best practices, principles and policies into the product development process, according to a company announcement. “Knowing exactly who it is that you're transacting with is critical to building trust in the digital economy – and Socure is the proven gold standard for enabling businesses to achieve just that,” Kalmes says. “It’s an honor to join the market leader during such a phenomenal growth period, and I look forward to continuously elevating Socure's cybersecurity capabilities and to redefine the underlying standards and frameworks driving today's digital economy.” Kalmes joins Brendan Peter, the vice president of government relations, as one of Socure’s executive hires in 2022.

Veriff adds Qualtrics, Google veteran as marketing head

Veriff has appointed Caroline Mogford as chief marketing officer to lead global demand generation for its selfie biometrics and identity verification, and increase brand awareness. Mogford’s experience spans over five years as head of marketing for Google’s Maps for Business in Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA), and Google for Education. She served executive marketing roles at Qualtrics before being hired by Veriff. “I believe that Veriff has the best ID verification technology -- whether to ensure that your children are safe online playing video games, or that your taxi driver is who they say they are. This is something that should make all of our lives safer and easier,” says Mogford. Kaarel Kotkas, founder and CEO of Veriff, says, “Caroline brings a proven track record for helping companies -- and individuals -- to successfully scale. She will play a critical role in helping further strengthen Veriff’s position in the U.S. market and lead Veriff’s adoption in new markets.” Veriff raised $100 million in a funding round in January with the intent to support global growth and support research and development to expand Veriff’s product portfolio.

OCR Labs recruits new EMEA sales director

OCR Labs has recruited Adam Desmond as sales director for the EMEA region following an earlier fundraising round held to propel its global growth. Desmond brings significant experience in the biometrics industry, having previously served at GBG, including managing the acquisition of the IDscan solution, and as country manager at Mitek Systems to support growth with UK banks. He will manage a dedicated EMEA sales team in industries like financial services, gaming, insurance, and telcoms. OCR Labs raised $30 million in February in part to support its EMEA market expansion. “I’ve watched OCR Labs for the past five years and have always respected the product and team,” says Desmond. “The market is shouting out for the solution OCR Labs offers, with a fully automated global solution. It’s an exciting and busy time to join the company as they look to scale quickly in EMEA, and I relish the challenge of leading sales and growing a team across all regions and sectors.”

SITA books new Americas president to lead digitization

Matthys Serfontein, who previous served as an executive at SITA, returns from a two-year hiatus to take on the role of president, Americas to ensure that digitization of the air transport industry can take flight. Serfontein was the president of air travel solutions and regional vice president for airport solutions in Africa at SITA, and held senior management positions at Airports Company South Africa, e.Airports, and OSI Airport Systems. He says about his new role, “As travelers return to the skies, our customers are eyeing digitalization as the key to returning to growth while meeting the new expectations of today’s passenger. With its innovative portfolio, SITA is uniquely positioned to support them. SITA has been, and continues to be, a trusted partner to the industry, and I look forward to this new opportunity to build on our exciting partnerships with customers in the Americas.” With the increasing digitization of air travel and air transport, SITA has praised Apple’s digital ID, aviation industry biometrics, and digital health passes as the changes making permanent digital ID possible in the industry. Its Air Transport IT Insights 2021 report expects a return to growth in 2022 after the turmoil of the COVID-19 pandemic, with biometric boarding, health passes, and airport biometrics to become more popular in the near future.]]> https://www.biometricupdate.com/202205/biometrics-providers-continue-to-bring-leadership-talent-in-or-back/feed 0 191709 Google debuts Wallet, new Pixel Watch and Phone at I/O event https://www.biometricupdate.com/202205/google-debuts-wallet-new-pixel-watch-and-phone-at-i-o-event https://www.biometricupdate.com/202205/google-debuts-wallet-new-pixel-watch-and-phone-at-i-o-event#respond Fri, 13 May 2022 22:31:05 +0000 https://www.biometricupdate.com/?p=191700 At Google's I/O developer conference this week, the company released its Wallet for Android, with plans for biometrically secured digital ID storage. The biometric features of the Pixel Watch 7 and Pixel 6a smartphone were also unveiled. The company appears happy with the design of the Wallet, but executives are realistic about the hurdles it faces in making the software ubiquitous. Director of Product Management for Payments Dong Min Kim says in a company blog post that the Wallet holds payment information, digital car keys, tickets, vaccine cards and boarding passes, among other things. Kim says the Wallet is an improvement over a traditional wallet. Android screen locks and verification by a financial institution make it more secure. There are plans to add digital IDs to the Wallet, says Bill Ready, Google's president of Commerce, Payments and Next Billion users at Google. Ready says he believes that the explosion with smartphone ownership and the advent of Covid physical restrictions, more people want contactless transactions and virtual vaccination cards, car keys and digital IDs in wallets. The market must grow faster, however. Ready writes in a column in Fortune that digital wallets are “imperative” for a rapidly digitizing economy. They reduce friction inherent with physical wallets. And armed with biometrics readers, they offer superior security. They also can be a convenient place to store health insurance, boarding passes, and proof of age. But “digital wallets aren't universally accessible," he says. Economies could "succeed in digitizing everything but fail to provide access to everyone.” Ready pushes universal access through Android and other smartphones along with non-proprietary, affordable wallets. “No single company can achieve this." Ready says. What is more, governments must recognize digital IDs in order to reach the “invisible billion” people who have no IDs, he says.

More news on Pixel Watch and Phone with biometrics

The Pixel Watch 7, scheduled for a fall release, is said to be voice-enabled and glanceable. They also connect with Fitbits, integrating biometric data tracking tools for fitness and health. Google at the same time debuted the Pixel 6a, an option between the 6 and 6 Pro equipped with Tensor processors. The chip arrives with Real Tone, camera software designed to better capture darker skin tones. Google executives have said they want the company to be seen as addressing racial biases in digital photography and biometrics. Trade publisher 9 to 5 Google reports that the Pixel 6a will use a different in-display fingerprint sensor from the Pixel 6, purportedly to address criticism by users that the Pixel 6 fingerprint sensor is slow. Google has defended the performance, saying it is a feature of enhanced biometric security algorithms.]]> https://www.biometricupdate.com/202205/google-debuts-wallet-new-pixel-watch-and-phone-at-i-o-event/feed 0 191700 Innovatrics updates ABIS, launches Android biometrics app https://www.biometricupdate.com/202205/innovatrics-updates-abis-launches-android-biometrics-app https://www.biometricupdate.com/202205/innovatrics-updates-abis-launches-android-biometrics-app#respond Fri, 13 May 2022 22:21:38 +0000 https://www.biometricupdate.com/?p=191692 Slovakia-based Innovatrics has updated its Automated Biometric Identification System (ABIS) with an enhanced iris recognition algorithm and an Android app designed for election and police ID verification. The ABIS 8.2, which covers fingerprint, iris and face biometrics, has been updated with stability, deduplication and biometric analysis improvements for its identity management system. It can also be integrated with Android BioScriber with REST API. Innovatrics also showed off an Android app that performs mobile enrollment, identification and verification for election and law enforcement officials. The company says it supports consumer devices like tablets and smartphones; and USB external peripherals like fingerprint, ID scanners, webcams, and receipt printers as well as biometric devices from Coppernic and Laxton. The announcement also depicts the use of the ABIS with a fingerprint scanner from Integrated Biometrics. This broad support is intended to prevent vendor lock-in., according to the announcement Biometric data from the app is sent to Innovatrics' ABIS database and processed by its deduplication engine, which allows an authorized user to review the information to resolve potential discrepancies. The company says the Android app is viable for areas with no reliable IDs to register individuals with face and fingerprint biometrics. And the app can be used by law enforcement to identify suspects with fingerprints. West African country Guinea recently began using Innovatrics’ ABIS to identify criminals.]]> https://www.biometricupdate.com/202205/innovatrics-updates-abis-launches-android-biometrics-app/feed 0 191692 Canadian government seeks dismissal of biometric data privacy suit against federal police https://www.biometricupdate.com/202205/canadian-government-seeks-dismissal-of-biometric-data-privacy-suit-against-federal-police https://www.biometricupdate.com/202205/canadian-government-seeks-dismissal-of-biometric-data-privacy-suit-against-federal-police#respond Fri, 13 May 2022 17:52:09 +0000 https://www.biometricupdate.com/?p=191683 Canada’s Federal Government has filed a motion to have the certification of a potential class action lawsuit over biometric data privacy filed against the Royal Canadian Mounted Police dismissed, The Canadian Press reports. Photographer Ha Vi Doan filed suit against the government over the use of Clearview AI’s facial recognition app by the RCMP, but government lawyers say that the allegation does not include “harm of any kind,” according to the report. The suit was filed in 2020, alleging Clearview violated Canada’s personal data privacy law by collecting biometrics for a commercial purpose without consent. Since then, Canada’s Privacy Commissioner has declared the use of Clearview by the RCMP unlawful, and lawmakers have continued to press the RCMP for more transparency on its biometrics use. The RCMP has publicly maintained that the app was only actually used in investigations of online child abuse, while the court filing mentions its use in a search for a fugitive, plus tests with images of police officers, celebrities, and media images of missing persons. The filing by federal government lawyers notes that Doan obtained confirmation that Clearview held seven images of her collected from the internet. “Access to any public database or search engine does not create liability with respect to every person whose information is contained therein regardless of whether or how or what information was actually accessed,” the government’s representatives argue. They note that Doan does not allege that the RCMP saw or copied her images. “In the absence of any material fact that the defendant looked for, saw, or copied some information related to the plaintiff, it is illusory to speak of violations of her rights or of causation.”]]> https://www.biometricupdate.com/202205/canadian-government-seeks-dismissal-of-biometric-data-privacy-suit-against-federal-police/feed 0 191683 US government seeks Smart ePants contractors for sensor-woven clothing https://www.biometricupdate.com/202205/us-government-seeks-smart-epants-contractors-for-sensor-woven-clothing https://www.biometricupdate.com/202205/us-government-seeks-smart-epants-contractors-for-sensor-woven-clothing#respond Fri, 13 May 2022 17:45:51 +0000 https://www.biometricupdate.com/?p=191674 Defense Department officials are moving ahead in their search for sensor-studded, electric clothing fit for military service members. The Smart Electrically Powered and Networked Textile Systems program (yes, ‘Smart ePants’) still is in brainstorming mode. The government wants a lot out of the pants, including the ability to "sense, store, interpret or react to (and communication) information from their environment," presumably including a wearer's biometric information. They would be the ultimate step counter. A request for information was posted in January and on May 11, it was the subject of an Office of the Director of National Intelligence "proposer's day" during which a program manager sells contractors on an idea prior to a request for proposal. The Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity office holds the events. It is not known what resulted from the meeting or, indeed, if any contractors attended. Officials see any pants that are developed being strategic tools for civilian first responders and professional athletes, too. A similar idea (similarly named) came out of Canada a decade ago. The Smart-e-Pants wove electrodes in underwear to help prevent bed sores on patients. They are uninterested in new ways to snap, strap or pocket electronics, nor do they want primarily passive systems. Their focus largely is on ways to weave sensor systems into fabric, including audio, video and geolocation tools. There are also mentions of "scrunchable" batteries and power-generation systems that collect energy chemically (through bodily "excretions") and kinetically from the wearer's movement. They also want systems with built-in actuators that react to data. In a nod to the state of the art of storage, the Defense Department says data transfer systems only need to be flexible if they are physically incorporated into the fabric. And they want material that performs and feels like off-the-shelf cloth]]> https://www.biometricupdate.com/202205/us-government-seeks-smart-epants-contractors-for-sensor-woven-clothing/feed 0 191674 US and EU lack of protections on use of border biometrics, reports allege https://www.biometricupdate.com/202205/us-and-eu-lack-of-protections-on-use-of-border-biometrics-reports-allege https://www.biometricupdate.com/202205/us-and-eu-lack-of-protections-on-use-of-border-biometrics-reports-allege#respond Fri, 13 May 2022 17:05:57 +0000 https://www.biometricupdate.com/?p=191654 As the European Union continues to make progress on its projects for digital ID, online protection and governance of AI, a new report claims that AI use for border control is not covered by the proposed AI Act. While in the United States, another report unpicks how the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency built a vast surveillance apparatus using biometrics and billions of data points from digital records on the identity documents of millions of people.

EU’s proposed AI Act will not regulate AI, biometrics border technology

Despite already spending €341 million (US$354 million) since 2007 on research into artificial intelligence technologies for immigration, asylum and border control, the proposed EU AI Act would not regulate such applications of AI and biometrics, claims a report published by Statewatch in a coalition with other human rights organizations. ‘A clear and present danger: Missing safeguards on migration and asylum in the EU’s AI Act’ collates dozens of examples of existing and proposed projects spanning biometric identification and verification devices, automated data-gathering, predictive analysis software, databases and even border control robots. It finds that these are either insufficiently covered or excluded by the proposed AI Act. The team acknowledges that European Parliament committees have taken a harder line in their assessments of and feedback into the proposed AI Act, but that they have still not addressed the issue of migrants and asylum seekers. The report also notes that private companies have received the largest portion of funding at €163 million. A previous report by Statewatch found that spending on border enforcement in the EU has increased rapidly since the migrant crisis that began in 2014.

Report builds case against ICE using sophisticated surveillance, biometrics

The U.S. agency Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) “operates as a domestic surveillance agency” accessing information from private companies about the lives of as many people as possible living in America and contracting biometrics firm in its efforts to carry out deportations and playing “a key role in the federal government’s larger push to amass as much information as possible about all of our lives,” according to a new report. ‘American Dragnet: Data-Driven Deportation in the 21st Century’ is the result of a two-year investigation and hundreds of Freedom of Information Act requests as well as a review into how ICE contracts and procures technology, by the Center on Privacy and Technology of Georgetown Law, the law school of Washington D.C.’s Georgetown University. “In its efforts to arrest and deport, ICE has – without any judicial, legislative or public oversight – reached into datasets containing personal information about the vast majority of people living in the U.S., whose records can end up in the hands of immigration enforcement simply because they apply for driver’s licenses; drive on the roads; or sign up with their local utilities to get access to heat, water and electricity,” states the report. A review of more than 100,000 spending transactions by ICE finds it spent US$2.8 billion between 2008 and 2021 on surveillance, data collection and data sharing initiatives. This reveals it was building sophisticated surveillance capabilities far earlier than previously thought. The authors previously believed ICE began conducting facial recognition on state and local data sets from 2013, but have uncovered a 2008 contract with defense and biometrics contractor L-1 Identity Solutions, several years before it became part of what it now Idemia. This contract allowed ICE to access the facial recognition database of the Rhode Island motor vehicle department in order to “recognize criminal aliens.” This was the tip of the surveillance iceberg, the report says: “ICE has used face recognition technology to search through the driver’s license photographs of around 1 in 3 of all adults in the U.S. The agency has access to the driver’s license data of 3 in 4 adults and tracks the movements of cars in cities home to nearly 3 in 4 (70 percent) adults. “When 3 in 4 adults in the U.S. connected the gas, electricity, phone or internet in a new home, ICE was able to automatically learn their new address. Almost all of that has been done warrantlessly and in secret.” As well as utility and DMV records, ICE also brings in data from social media posts, health care records, child welfare records and geolocation information. It then uses algorithmic tools to search, match and analyze the data. As recently as August 2020, Clearview AI won a contract with ICE for facial recognition services. Last week ICE extended its contract with Trust Stamp for a facial recognition app for tracking asylum seekers on the U.S.-Mexico border. Research finds that state authorities are largely unaware of ICE’s surveillance of their residents, while some agencies deny responsibility for ICE access to their records. The report authors make many recommendations such as that Congress “conduct aggressive oversight of ICE surveillance” to understand how ICE uses biometrics, including facial recognition, fingerprints and DNA and that ICE should end its dragnet surveillance and use of facial recognition on DMV data for immigration enforcement.]]> https://www.biometricupdate.com/202205/us-and-eu-lack-of-protections-on-use-of-border-biometrics-reports-allege/feed 0 191654 Teen takes top 10 spot in MIT program with biometric inclusive ID project https://www.biometricupdate.com/202205/teen-takes-top-10-spot-in-mit-program-with-biometric-inclusive-id-project https://www.biometricupdate.com/202205/teen-takes-top-10-spot-in-mit-program-with-biometric-inclusive-id-project#respond Fri, 13 May 2022 16:26:09 +0000 https://www.biometricupdate.com/?p=191646 An Illinois teen is getting recognition for a biometrics innovation of hers to help indigent people globally identify themselves to access services such as for personal finance. Elizabeth Nyamwange, 16, has earned a top 10 spot in a Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Solv[ED] youth innovation program. The innovation includes a solar-powered fingerprint scanner, which creates biometric templates and uploads them to a public server, with records pointing to the data recorded on a blockchain, Shaw Local reports. Nyamwange's idea involves sending fingerprint biometrics via a low-bandwidth protocol similar to text messaging. In an interview with WIFR-TV, she says she was motivated to enter the competition by her deep interest in women’s issues and gender equality. Nyamwange notes that not having an ID means “you can’t open a bank account. You have no judicial protection, health care protection. You can’t work in the formal economy. You aren’t really recognized as a person under the law.” These vulnerabilities particularly affect women in underdeveloped economies. Her idea, Etana, compresses fingerprint biometrics into a compressed format small enough to be sent over 2G networks. Nyamwange says the user’s biometrics can then be used to open bank accounts as well as other private and government activities. Etana found fans in the Solv[ED] program, which rewards young adults for innovations with the potential to solve or lessen societal problems. Nyamwange was competing with more than 800 applicants from 148 countries, according to WIFR. The top 10 finalists will share $200,000 to build prototypes. Shaw reports Nyamwange has been awarded $36,000 so far, and that each Etana scanner costs about $50 to make. Organizations like the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab and the World Bank say increasing access to digital IDs can play a role in dispersing cash payments to people in need and in delivering vital public services in Sub-Saharan Africa.]]> https://www.biometricupdate.com/202205/teen-takes-top-10-spot-in-mit-program-with-biometric-inclusive-id-project/feed 0 191646 French Senate seeks to protect against biometric surveillance – with biometric surveillance sandbox https://www.biometricupdate.com/202205/french-senate-seeks-to-protect-against-biometric-surveillance-with-biometric-surveillance-sandbox https://www.biometricupdate.com/202205/french-senate-seeks-to-protect-against-biometric-surveillance-with-biometric-surveillance-sandbox#respond Fri, 13 May 2022 16:03:46 +0000 https://www.biometricupdate.com/?p=191636 The French Senate Law Commission has released a contradictory report into biometrics that seeks both to ensure France does not become a country of mass biometric surveillance, while recommending a three-year regulatory sandbox for testing biometric mass surveillance systems. A period which would encompass the Paris 2024 Summer Olympic Games. Unanimously adopted by the Senate Law Commission ahead of publishing, reports Public Sénat, the “information report” was led through its eight-month drafting mission by three senators who are members of the Commission. In the publicly available summary of ‘Biometric recognition in public spaces: 30 proposals to eliminate the risk of [becoming] a surveillance society’ (‘La reconnaissance biométrique dans l'espace public: 30 propositions pour écarter le risque d'une société de surveillance’), seems contradictory from the outset: “In October 2020, the Senate Law Commission established an information mission on facial recognition, a technology that is developing rapidly thanks to learning algorithms and that is polarizing public opinion between supporters of a moratorium relating to all biometric technologies, which would be by nature detrimental to freedoms, and those who highlight their significant potential benefits. “At a time when legislation on artificial intelligence is being drafted at the European level, it is essential to build a collective response to the use of biometric recognition technologies in order not to be, in the years to come, overtaken by industrial developments.” Proposal 1 sets the scene for consulting the French public to find ways to persuade them to accept more biometric surveillance: “Undertake a national survey aimed at evaluating the perception of biometric recognition by the French, identifying the use cases to which they are more or less favorable and identifying the sources of better acceptability of this technology.” Proposal 2 to 6 are the “red lines” to remove the risk of becoming a surveillance society. Yet there are exceptions for almost every prohibition for biometric surveillance proposed: no categorization by ethnicity, sex or sexual orientation – except for scientific research; no analysis of emotion – except for scientific research; no live facial recognition in public spaces – except for law enforcement in certain cases. Then by Proposal 7, the gloves come off: “Set in an experimental law, for a period of three years, the conditions under which and the purposes for which biometric recognition may be the subject of new experiments by public actors or in public spaces and provide detailed annual reports to Parliament on its application, the last of which no later than six months before the end of the trial period.” Proposal 8 would require submission to an ethics board before Proposal 9’s wish to then educate the French people of the benefits and risks of three years of surveillance. By Proposal 11 the senators are suggesting private actors can submit their biometric surveillance technologies for public places for authorization by the CNIL, the data privacy regulator. The list continues towards the ever-greater surveillance society the report ostensibly seeks to avoid. Proposal 16: “Create, on an experimental basis, a legal framework allowing the use of biometric authentication technologies to secure access to certain events and control the flow [of people], based on people's consent.” The report accepts that using biometric recognition to control access to a site without a non-biometric alternative would be terrible, but Proposal 17 brings in the exception exactly for that situation “on an experimental basis.” Just to be sure, Proposal 22 opens up real-time biometric monitoring of streets to secure events and sensitive sites. Adding in the European context, the proposals support the creation of a European authority to assess the reliability of algorithms for biometric recognition and to certify the lack of bias. Taking this up a step, they also intend to “Provide the authority in charge of artificial intelligence with an image database at the European Union level in order to give it the means for its action. “Feed this database through several mechanisms inspired by the proposal for a European Union regulation on European data governance. Set up suitable mechanisms for informing citizens and provide for the possibility of requesting the withdrawal of their data from the database at any time.” The report does include safeguards throughout such as tackling bias in AI, and strengthening the regulatory powers of the CNIL. However, the proposals for a three-year period of experimentation, and the explicit mentioning of the 2024 Olympics as an event needing protection, reveal the direction of thinking for the Law Commission of the upper chamber of the French government.]]> https://www.biometricupdate.com/202205/french-senate-seeks-to-protect-against-biometric-surveillance-with-biometric-surveillance-sandbox/feed 0 191636 Pindrop presents three research papers on voice biometrics, speech recognition at ICASSP https://www.biometricupdate.com/202205/pindrop-presents-three-research-papers-on-voice-biometrics-speech-recognition-at-icassp https://www.biometricupdate.com/202205/pindrop-presents-three-research-papers-on-voice-biometrics-speech-recognition-at-icassp#respond Fri, 13 May 2022 15:48:07 +0000 https://www.biometricupdate.com/?p=191627 Three research papers from Pindrop have been presented at the 2022 International Conference on Acoustics, Speech, & Signal Processing (ICASSP), and indicate the direction of the company’s attempts to further innovate with voice biometrics and speech recognition technologies. The first paper is titled, ‘Distribution Learning for Age Estimation from Speech.’ It explores a different approach to age estimation based on voice biometrics by using distribution learning problem model rather than the traditional model of a classification or regression problem. The first obstacle that Pindrop’s researchers found with distributed learning is that audio research lacks datasets tagged with “apparent” age. However, it also found that distribution learning validated for facial age estimation is still viable for audio, meaning a general age range can be estimated at a particular confidence interval. It concludes that while distributed learning is more constrained than facial age estimation, it can even outperform regression and classification algorithms for both matched and mismatched conditions. The second paper is titled, ‘Speaker Embedding Conversion for Backward and Cross-Channel Compatibility.’ It examines solutions for compatibility issues between voice biometric authentication technology providers that have been migrating their models to newer deep learning techniques. Pindrop’s researcher suggest a deep neural network-based method to allow for backwards compatibility. The experimental results found that the DNN is able to deliver feature-embedding compatibility between two automatic speaker verification systems (ASV) with improved performance over a baseline convertor system, though the converted feature embedding performed worse than the traditional ASV systems at the low FAR range. The researchers say that an extension of their work could explore score calibration to improve this performance at a low FAR range. The third paper is ‘Unsupervised Model Adaptation for End-to-End ASR,’ and looks into a way to improve automatic speech recognition (ASR) transcription systems that often struggle with mismatched train-test conditions like call centers that have to account for factors like accents and voice audio quality. The Pindrop researchers propose using in-domain data to eliminate the need for human annotations using the relationship between word-error-rate (WER) and the CTC (‘Connectionist Temporal Classification,’ a measure of alignment) loss on one hand, and the WER and the probability ratio-based confidence (PRC) on the other hand. To solve for this, the research team has proposed a cost-effective way to improve accuracy of ASR systems using in-domain data without the need for costly human annotations. This was made possible by exploring the relationship between the word-error-rate (WER) and connectionist temporal classification loss, and the WER and the probability ratio based confidence (PRC). It found that WER could be reduced by 8 percent in absolute terms without supervision, allowing it to adapt to suboptimal conditions. However, Pindrop says that the research is experimental and does not reflect the performance of its products. Some other recent research in the field of voice biometrics include suggestions on how to tackle voice deepfakes and a method for continuous liveness detection on smart devices. The online paper presentation portion of ICASSP closes this week, with the in-person event running in Singapore from May 22 to 27.]]> https://www.biometricupdate.com/202205/pindrop-presents-three-research-papers-on-voice-biometrics-speech-recognition-at-icassp/feed 0 191627 Estonia signs SK ID as mobile digital ID provider after search for alternatives https://www.biometricupdate.com/202205/estonia-signs-sk-id-as-mobile-digital-id-provider-after-search-for-alternatives https://www.biometricupdate.com/202205/estonia-signs-sk-id-as-mobile-digital-id-provider-after-search-for-alternatives#respond Fri, 13 May 2022 15:39:59 +0000 https://www.biometricupdate.com/?p=191619 Estonia’s government has inked a five-year contract for digital identity application Mobile-ID with company SK ID, completing a search that faced a delay after the public procurement process failed to surface any other qualified bidders. Public broadcaster ERR reports that the Estonian Information System Authority (RIA) and SK ID signed a new contract to renew the use of Mobile-ID in Estonia starting July 2. All previously-issued Mobile-IDs will remain usable until the end of the five-year period of validity. It is available for children aged seven and up with parental permission. Estonia is widely regarded as a pioneer in digital governance and ID, with countries often looking to its implementation as a blueprint for their systems. In 2021, the country issued a tender to replace its mobile digital ID system managed by Swedbank, SEB Pank, and Telia Eesti since a 2010 contract win. Initial plans were for introduction of the new digital ID system by January 2022, but delays with the public procurement process forced it back. Tenders were expected to be reached during the second half of September, and the new solution to be operational by July 2022. There were some expectations for biometrics to be included in a new Estonian mobile digital ID to add an extra layer of security beyond a SIM card, but the selection of SK ID by the RIA does not appear to include any biometrics integration for Mobile-ID. Joonas Heiter, director of the State Information System at RIA, told ERR that the organization was not seeking a novel solution which “simply cannot be developed in six months.” He added that the “unsuccessful” Mobile-ID procurement from 2021 showed there was currently no new technological solution that would be compatible with the situation of the Estonian e-state without extensive development and would offer actual added value for the users. Belgium’s Mobile ID supplier expressed interest, but did not meet all of the criteria. There are currently 251,000 users of Mobile-ID with about ten million digital identity operations per month on average, according to ERR. The RIA is looking to an e-wallet or digital wallet with the developments of electronic identity in the European Union, with Heiter telling ERR that, “Technology will change in five years and by that time, there will probably be an innovative solution which can offer more options for the users.”]]> https://www.biometricupdate.com/202205/estonia-signs-sk-id-as-mobile-digital-id-provider-after-search-for-alternatives/feed 0 191619