- Email: [email protected]
German regulators suspend investigations into Facebook as EU turns attention to privacy
TECHNOLOGY
www.biometrics-today.com
ISSN 0969-4765 July/August 2012
social media
Contents
Facebook acquires Face.com to boost its mobile offering
S
ocial networking site Facebook has acquired Face.com, the Israeli company that states its mission is to ‘make face recognition a fun, engaging part of people’s lives, and incorporate remarkable technology into everyday consumer products’. Facebook is said to be the world’s largest store of pictures of people and the acquisition is raising fears about privacy. Facebook has used Face.com for two years to tag images. Face.com launched an application KLIK that allows users to tag pictures of Facebook friends automatically before posting them on Facebook from their iphone. Analysts have suggested that the now publically quoted Facebook will be working hard to capture the mobile market. In a blog post, Face.com says, “We love building products, and like our friends at Facebook, we think that mobile is a critical part of people’s lives as they both create and consume content, and share content with their social graph.”
TODAY
biometric Reports of a basic vulnerability in KILK, in which the app allows access to other users’ KLIK information, including private authentication tokens for users’ Facebook and Twitter accounts, followed hard on the heels of the news of Facebook’s acquisition of Face.com. The vulnerability was said to be caused by Face.com storing Facebook and Twitter unique authentication keys on its servers in an insecure way that made them accessible to anyone, according to security researcher Ashkan Soltani. Facebook has said it addressed this swiftly. Face.com also offers an application programming interface (API) that powers third party apps such as CelebrityFindr, which allows users to search for photos of celebrities on Twitter using facial recognition technology. Face.com intends to continue working with its developer community and tells developers to look out for further information on its developer blog. Continued on page 2...
privacy
News Facebook acquires Face.com to boost its mobile offering
1
German regulators suspend investigations into Facebook as EU turns attention to privacy 1 US government and industry work on interoperability
2
North America leads biometric technology market 2 Palm vein scanners secure festivalgoers’ mobiles
3
British passport body plans £12.8m facial recognition system
3
Digicel Pacific enables fingerprint payments from NZ shops
3
Nuance and Uniphore partner to target Indian banking
12
Biometrics review at the US border
12
Features The application of face recognition in airports Carl Gohringer, Allevate, looks at how facial recognition tech is used in airports
5
Border control biometrics and surveillance Steve Gold looks at some of the problems that biometric technologies are facing at border crossings. 9
Regulars
German regulators suspend investigations into Facebook as EU turns attention to privacy
Events Calendar
3
News in Brief
4
Product News
4
T
Company News
4
he German data protection authority has suspended investigations into Facebook over its facial recognition features as it waits for Facebook to negotiate with Ireland’s privacy regulator before deciding whether Facebook complies with rules for using biometric data in an application that suggests people to tag in photos. Facebook informed the Hamburg data protection authority that it has entered into
negotiations with the Irish Data Protection Commissioner’s Office on changing the way it implements automatic facial recognition features. The Hamburg authority swung into action against Facebook in 2011 for not informing users or seeking user consent before introducing the facial recognition feature. It has said it will reopen its investigation if Facebook doesn’t allow users more influence over the way their data is handled. Continued on page 2...
Comment
12
Visit us at www.biometrics-today.com
ISSN 0969-4765/12 © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. This journal and the individual contributions contained in it are protected under copyright by Elsevier Ltd, and the following terms and conditions apply to their use: Photocopying Single photocopies of single articles may be made for personal use as allowed by national copyright laws. Permission of the publisher and payment of a fee is required for all other photocopying, including multiple or systematic copying, copying for advertising or promotional purposes, resale, and all forms of document delivery. Special rates are available for educational institutions that wish to make photocopies for non-profit educational classroom use.
NEWS
Editorial Office: Elsevier Ltd The Boulevard Langford Lane Kidlington Oxford OX5 1GB, UK Fax: +44 (0) 1865 843973 Email: [email protected] Website: www.biometrics-today.com Publisher: David Hopwood Editor: Tracey Caldwell Email: [email protected] Production Support Manager: Lin Lucas Email: [email protected] Subscription Information An annual subscription to Biometric Technology Today includes 10 issues and online access for up to 5 users. Prices: 1098 for all European countries & Iran US$1188 for all countries except Europe and Japan ¥146 000 for Japan (Prices valid until 31 December 2012) To subscribe send payment to the address above. Tel: +44 (0)1865 843687 or via www.biometrics-today.com Subscriptions run for 12 months, from the date payment is received. This newsletter and the individual contributions contained in it are protected under copyright by Elsevier Ltd, and the following terms and conditions apply to their use: Permissions may be sought directly from Elsevier Global Rights Department, PO Box 800, Oxford OX5 1DX, UK; phone: +44 1865 843830, fax: +44 1865 853333, email: [email protected]. You may also contact Global Rights directly through Elsevier’s home page (www.elsevier.com), selecting first ‘Support & contact’, then ‘Copyright & permission’. In the USA, users may clear permissions and make payments through the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc., 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, USA; phone: +1 978 750 8400, fax: +1 978 750 4744, and in the UK through the Copyright Licensing Agency Rapid Clearance Service (CLARCS), 90 Tottenham Court Road, London W1P 0LP, UK; phone: +44 (0)20 7631 5555; fax: +44 (0)20 7631 5500. Other countries may have a local reprographic rights agency for payments. Derivative Works Subscribers may reproduce tables of contents or prepare lists of articles including abstracts for internal circulation within their institutions. Permission of the Publisher is required for resale or distribution outside the institution. Permission of the Publisher is required for all other derivative works, including compilations and translations. Electronic Storage or Usage Permission of the Publisher is required to store or use electronically any material contained in this journal, including any article or part of an article. Except as outlined above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission of the Publisher. Address permissions requests to: Elsevier Science Global Rights Department, at the mail, fax and email addresses noted above. Notice No responsibility is assumed by the Publisher for any injury and/ or damage to persons or property as a matter of products liability, negligence or otherwise, or from any use or operation of any methods, products, instructions or ideas contained in the material herein. Because of rapid advances in the medical sciences, in particular, independent verification of diagnoses and drug dosages should be made. Although all advertising material is expected to conform to ethical (medical) standards, inclusion in this publication does not constitute a guarantee or endorsement of the quality or value of such product or of the claims made of it by its manufacturer.
12985 Digitally Produced by
Mayfield Press (Oxford) Ltd
2
Biometric Technology Today
...Top Story continued from page 1 The Face.com acquisition comes as privacy concerns have been raised about Apple’s storage of the voice biometrics of people using its Siri voice recognition engine on its servers. The fear is that sensitive information is stored in a voice form, which may be authenticated to lend credence to the information. This type of biometrically validated information could be required by a court of law for example. Trudy Muller, an Apple spokeswoman, confirmed to Mashable that voice recordings are stored when users ask a spoken question like “What’s the weather now?”, noting that questions and responses that Siri sends over the Internet are encrypted, and that recordings of a person’s voice are not linked to other information Apple has generated about them. According to Technology Review, IBM requires its employees bringing Siri-enabled iPhones to work, to switch off Siri, in case they reveal sensitive information.
privacy ...Continued from page 1 This comes as European data protection authorities have formally adopted a further ‘Opinion’ on developments in biometric technologies. The Article 29 Working Party on the Protection of Individuals with regard to the Processing of Personal Data has issued an opinion that provides an updated legal analysis of the use of biometric data and best practice recommendations. This may be accessed at http://ec.europa.eu/justice/data-protection/ article-29/documentation/opinion-recommendation/files/2012/wp192_en.pdf The opinion develops the working party’s previous opinion on biometrics and considers the legal framework. It provides recommendations applicable to facial recognition technology when used in the context of online and mobile services and addresses the issue of informed consent. It comments, “Technological progress has made storage space and computing power cheaper. This has made online picture galleries and social networks containing billions of photographs possible, allowed fingerprint readers and video surveillance devices to become inexpensive gadgets and made DNA analysis faster and more affordable. “Where such commonly available biometric technologies are used without adequate safeguards the right to data protection of the concerned individual is at risk. In addition, many types of biometric data can be collected without the individual’s co-operation or knowledge, such as through video surveillance and facial recognition systems, and many violations could occur unnoticed.”
These benefits, risks and other recent developments are addressed in the opinion.
interoperability
US government and industry work on interoperability
U
S defence and law enforcement agencies are to meet to thrash out issues of interoperability in biometric systems. The IJIS Institute, a non-profit organisation that focuses on mission critical information sharing for justice, public safety, and homeland security, leads the initiative. It has formed a joint government industry panel to identify challenges in interoperability between biometric-based products and systems. In a press release it states: “In spite of significant progress in the development of national and international biometric standards, many interoperability problems still remain. This panel will be a major catalyst for enhancing biometric interoperability in specific context areas that have fallen short in meeting interoperability goals.” The panel will first meet as part of BIGSIG (Biometrics Industry Government Standards and Interoperability Group) subcommittee of Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS) Programs Advisory Committee (CPAC) on 28 July 2012 to explore various perspectives on the challenges of and future for improving biometrics interoperability. The CPAC comprises IJIS Institute member companies, as well as FBI representatives. Representatives from the FBI, US Visit, National Security Agency, Department of State, Department of Defense (Biometrics Identity Management Agency), and state and local governments have been invited to represent government. Also invited are members of relevant standards organisations. For more information, visit www.IJIS.org.
industry
North America leads biometric technology market
R
esearchers have found that North America is leading the biometric technology market According to a new market research report ‘Next Generation Biometric Technologies Market – Global Forecast & Analysis (20122017)’ published by MarketsandMarkets, the
July/August 2012
www.biometrics-today.com
ISSN 0969-4765 July/August 2012
social media
Contents
Facebook acquires Face.com to boost its mobile offering
S
ocial networking site Facebook has acquired Face.com, the Israeli company that states its mission is to ‘make face recognition a fun, engaging part of people’s lives, and incorporate remarkable technology into everyday consumer products’. Facebook is said to be the world’s largest store of pictures of people and the acquisition is raising fears about privacy. Facebook has used Face.com for two years to tag images. Face.com launched an application KLIK that allows users to tag pictures of Facebook friends automatically before posting them on Facebook from their iphone. Analysts have suggested that the now publically quoted Facebook will be working hard to capture the mobile market. In a blog post, Face.com says, “We love building products, and like our friends at Facebook, we think that mobile is a critical part of people’s lives as they both create and consume content, and share content with their social graph.”
TODAY
biometric Reports of a basic vulnerability in KILK, in which the app allows access to other users’ KLIK information, including private authentication tokens for users’ Facebook and Twitter accounts, followed hard on the heels of the news of Facebook’s acquisition of Face.com. The vulnerability was said to be caused by Face.com storing Facebook and Twitter unique authentication keys on its servers in an insecure way that made them accessible to anyone, according to security researcher Ashkan Soltani. Facebook has said it addressed this swiftly. Face.com also offers an application programming interface (API) that powers third party apps such as CelebrityFindr, which allows users to search for photos of celebrities on Twitter using facial recognition technology. Face.com intends to continue working with its developer community and tells developers to look out for further information on its developer blog. Continued on page 2...
privacy
News Facebook acquires Face.com to boost its mobile offering
1
German regulators suspend investigations into Facebook as EU turns attention to privacy 1 US government and industry work on interoperability
2
North America leads biometric technology market 2 Palm vein scanners secure festivalgoers’ mobiles
3
British passport body plans £12.8m facial recognition system
3
Digicel Pacific enables fingerprint payments from NZ shops
3
Nuance and Uniphore partner to target Indian banking
12
Biometrics review at the US border
12
Features The application of face recognition in airports Carl Gohringer, Allevate, looks at how facial recognition tech is used in airports
5
Border control biometrics and surveillance Steve Gold looks at some of the problems that biometric technologies are facing at border crossings. 9
Regulars
German regulators suspend investigations into Facebook as EU turns attention to privacy
Events Calendar
3
News in Brief
4
Product News
4
T
Company News
4
he German data protection authority has suspended investigations into Facebook over its facial recognition features as it waits for Facebook to negotiate with Ireland’s privacy regulator before deciding whether Facebook complies with rules for using biometric data in an application that suggests people to tag in photos. Facebook informed the Hamburg data protection authority that it has entered into
negotiations with the Irish Data Protection Commissioner’s Office on changing the way it implements automatic facial recognition features. The Hamburg authority swung into action against Facebook in 2011 for not informing users or seeking user consent before introducing the facial recognition feature. It has said it will reopen its investigation if Facebook doesn’t allow users more influence over the way their data is handled. Continued on page 2...
Comment
12
Visit us at www.biometrics-today.com
ISSN 0969-4765/12 © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. This journal and the individual contributions contained in it are protected under copyright by Elsevier Ltd, and the following terms and conditions apply to their use: Photocopying Single photocopies of single articles may be made for personal use as allowed by national copyright laws. Permission of the publisher and payment of a fee is required for all other photocopying, including multiple or systematic copying, copying for advertising or promotional purposes, resale, and all forms of document delivery. Special rates are available for educational institutions that wish to make photocopies for non-profit educational classroom use.
NEWS
Editorial Office: Elsevier Ltd The Boulevard Langford Lane Kidlington Oxford OX5 1GB, UK Fax: +44 (0) 1865 843973 Email: [email protected] Website: www.biometrics-today.com Publisher: David Hopwood Editor: Tracey Caldwell Email: [email protected] Production Support Manager: Lin Lucas Email: [email protected] Subscription Information An annual subscription to Biometric Technology Today includes 10 issues and online access for up to 5 users. Prices: 1098 for all European countries & Iran US$1188 for all countries except Europe and Japan ¥146 000 for Japan (Prices valid until 31 December 2012) To subscribe send payment to the address above. Tel: +44 (0)1865 843687 or via www.biometrics-today.com Subscriptions run for 12 months, from the date payment is received. This newsletter and the individual contributions contained in it are protected under copyright by Elsevier Ltd, and the following terms and conditions apply to their use: Permissions may be sought directly from Elsevier Global Rights Department, PO Box 800, Oxford OX5 1DX, UK; phone: +44 1865 843830, fax: +44 1865 853333, email: [email protected]. You may also contact Global Rights directly through Elsevier’s home page (www.elsevier.com), selecting first ‘Support & contact’, then ‘Copyright & permission’. In the USA, users may clear permissions and make payments through the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc., 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, USA; phone: +1 978 750 8400, fax: +1 978 750 4744, and in the UK through the Copyright Licensing Agency Rapid Clearance Service (CLARCS), 90 Tottenham Court Road, London W1P 0LP, UK; phone: +44 (0)20 7631 5555; fax: +44 (0)20 7631 5500. Other countries may have a local reprographic rights agency for payments. Derivative Works Subscribers may reproduce tables of contents or prepare lists of articles including abstracts for internal circulation within their institutions. Permission of the Publisher is required for resale or distribution outside the institution. Permission of the Publisher is required for all other derivative works, including compilations and translations. Electronic Storage or Usage Permission of the Publisher is required to store or use electronically any material contained in this journal, including any article or part of an article. Except as outlined above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission of the Publisher. Address permissions requests to: Elsevier Science Global Rights Department, at the mail, fax and email addresses noted above. Notice No responsibility is assumed by the Publisher for any injury and/ or damage to persons or property as a matter of products liability, negligence or otherwise, or from any use or operation of any methods, products, instructions or ideas contained in the material herein. Because of rapid advances in the medical sciences, in particular, independent verification of diagnoses and drug dosages should be made. Although all advertising material is expected to conform to ethical (medical) standards, inclusion in this publication does not constitute a guarantee or endorsement of the quality or value of such product or of the claims made of it by its manufacturer.
12985 Digitally Produced by
Mayfield Press (Oxford) Ltd
2
Biometric Technology Today
...Top Story continued from page 1 The Face.com acquisition comes as privacy concerns have been raised about Apple’s storage of the voice biometrics of people using its Siri voice recognition engine on its servers. The fear is that sensitive information is stored in a voice form, which may be authenticated to lend credence to the information. This type of biometrically validated information could be required by a court of law for example. Trudy Muller, an Apple spokeswoman, confirmed to Mashable that voice recordings are stored when users ask a spoken question like “What’s the weather now?”, noting that questions and responses that Siri sends over the Internet are encrypted, and that recordings of a person’s voice are not linked to other information Apple has generated about them. According to Technology Review, IBM requires its employees bringing Siri-enabled iPhones to work, to switch off Siri, in case they reveal sensitive information.
privacy ...Continued from page 1 This comes as European data protection authorities have formally adopted a further ‘Opinion’ on developments in biometric technologies. The Article 29 Working Party on the Protection of Individuals with regard to the Processing of Personal Data has issued an opinion that provides an updated legal analysis of the use of biometric data and best practice recommendations. This may be accessed at http://ec.europa.eu/justice/data-protection/ article-29/documentation/opinion-recommendation/files/2012/wp192_en.pdf The opinion develops the working party’s previous opinion on biometrics and considers the legal framework. It provides recommendations applicable to facial recognition technology when used in the context of online and mobile services and addresses the issue of informed consent. It comments, “Technological progress has made storage space and computing power cheaper. This has made online picture galleries and social networks containing billions of photographs possible, allowed fingerprint readers and video surveillance devices to become inexpensive gadgets and made DNA analysis faster and more affordable. “Where such commonly available biometric technologies are used without adequate safeguards the right to data protection of the concerned individual is at risk. In addition, many types of biometric data can be collected without the individual’s co-operation or knowledge, such as through video surveillance and facial recognition systems, and many violations could occur unnoticed.”
These benefits, risks and other recent developments are addressed in the opinion.
interoperability
US government and industry work on interoperability
U
S defence and law enforcement agencies are to meet to thrash out issues of interoperability in biometric systems. The IJIS Institute, a non-profit organisation that focuses on mission critical information sharing for justice, public safety, and homeland security, leads the initiative. It has formed a joint government industry panel to identify challenges in interoperability between biometric-based products and systems. In a press release it states: “In spite of significant progress in the development of national and international biometric standards, many interoperability problems still remain. This panel will be a major catalyst for enhancing biometric interoperability in specific context areas that have fallen short in meeting interoperability goals.” The panel will first meet as part of BIGSIG (Biometrics Industry Government Standards and Interoperability Group) subcommittee of Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS) Programs Advisory Committee (CPAC) on 28 July 2012 to explore various perspectives on the challenges of and future for improving biometrics interoperability. The CPAC comprises IJIS Institute member companies, as well as FBI representatives. Representatives from the FBI, US Visit, National Security Agency, Department of State, Department of Defense (Biometrics Identity Management Agency), and state and local governments have been invited to represent government. Also invited are members of relevant standards organisations. For more information, visit www.IJIS.org.
industry
North America leads biometric technology market
R
esearchers have found that North America is leading the biometric technology market According to a new market research report ‘Next Generation Biometric Technologies Market – Global Forecast & Analysis (20122017)’ published by MarketsandMarkets, the
July/August 2012