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UK plans automated facial recognition trials at the border
TECHNOLOGY TECHNOLOG Y
www.biometrics-today.com
ISSN 0969-4765 May 2008
border control
Contents
UK plans automated facial recognition trials at the border
T
he new UK Border Agency (UKBA) has announced it is to hold trials this summer using automated border gates equipped with facial recognition technology – very similar to those in use at airports across Portugal, where a comparison is made between the image in the ePassport chip and the live image. There are currently 120 million passengers arriving from outside of the UK each year, 8590% of who are EEA nationals (all EU states as well as Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway). UKBA’s plan is to allow EEA passengers to use the technology, helping to speed them through in an average of 20 seconds. UKBA is not ruling out using the technology on visa holders, however, or indeed non-visa holders in the future. (From 2007, all visa applicants have had their biometrics recorded and checked. By 2011, the UK intends to record the biometrics of all non-EEA, non-Visa travellers before they enter the UK – similar to the US-VISIT scheme in the USA.) Speaking at the Security Document World and Identity Loop 2008 conference and exhibition in London last month, Gary Murphy, head of operational design for border control at UKBA commented that the UK had needed to decide on whether to trial first generation ePassports using facial recognition or wait until there were enough second generation ePassports in circulation using fingerprints. Murphy noted that using face would allow a trial to begin this summer, at which point an estimated 13% of EEA passengers would have the appropriate ePassport document. For fingerprint they would have to wait until 2012 to achieve a similar roll out rate. “We are therefore planning a trial of facial recognition at gates to see if they can deliver what we require,” Murphy explained. There are a number of key issues said Murphy, including security, reliability of the technology, public reaction and an assessment of the cost/benefits.
TODAY
biometric Murphy commented that an internal analysis suggested that a machine might be able to do a better job at comparing faces than border agents – even if the technology was facial recognition, which is not seen as robust as other biometrics such as fingerprint or iris. A key question was whether the removal of the border guard would remove the element of intuition, perhaps catching out a suspect passenger based on their behaviour. Murphy said that this factor would not be lost completely as there would be a supervisor in attendance and UKBA is thinking of introducing wider control zones, within which technologies such as behavioural analysis could be used. Turning to the biometric technology itself, Murphy said there was the risk of a greater false accept and false reject rate. However, he contended that the chosen manufacturer of the system for the trial had demonstrated to UKBA a very low error rate. “The only way we are going to find out the answer to this is to test it ourselves in a live environment, and use security testers to try and override the system.” From a public reaction perspective the main question is whether the public will use it. Another issue is how the public will handle rejection by the system – and indeed how UKBA will handle passengers rejected by the system. Also speaking at the Identity Loop show was the Portuguese Government and the supplier of its facial recognition system, Vision-Box. In Portugal almost 500 000 people are expected to use the ePassport facial recognition gates this year, and according to Francisco Batista, IT Director at SEF (Portuguese Immigration and Border Control): “We’ve been very pleased with the results.” Vision-Box had been set a target of achieving a false reject rate of less than 7% at a false reject rate of less than 1%. In fact, according to Batista the system is operating at an FRR of less than 2% and an FAR of 0% so far. Meanwhile each border crossing is taking an average of 20 seconds.
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ISSN 0969-4765/08 © 2008 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.
www.biometrics-today.com
ISSN 0969-4765 May 2008
border control
Contents
UK plans automated facial recognition trials at the border
T
he new UK Border Agency (UKBA) has announced it is to hold trials this summer using automated border gates equipped with facial recognition technology – very similar to those in use at airports across Portugal, where a comparison is made between the image in the ePassport chip and the live image. There are currently 120 million passengers arriving from outside of the UK each year, 8590% of who are EEA nationals (all EU states as well as Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway). UKBA’s plan is to allow EEA passengers to use the technology, helping to speed them through in an average of 20 seconds. UKBA is not ruling out using the technology on visa holders, however, or indeed non-visa holders in the future. (From 2007, all visa applicants have had their biometrics recorded and checked. By 2011, the UK intends to record the biometrics of all non-EEA, non-Visa travellers before they enter the UK – similar to the US-VISIT scheme in the USA.) Speaking at the Security Document World and Identity Loop 2008 conference and exhibition in London last month, Gary Murphy, head of operational design for border control at UKBA commented that the UK had needed to decide on whether to trial first generation ePassports using facial recognition or wait until there were enough second generation ePassports in circulation using fingerprints. Murphy noted that using face would allow a trial to begin this summer, at which point an estimated 13% of EEA passengers would have the appropriate ePassport document. For fingerprint they would have to wait until 2012 to achieve a similar roll out rate. “We are therefore planning a trial of facial recognition at gates to see if they can deliver what we require,” Murphy explained. There are a number of key issues said Murphy, including security, reliability of the technology, public reaction and an assessment of the cost/benefits.
TODAY
biometric Murphy commented that an internal analysis suggested that a machine might be able to do a better job at comparing faces than border agents – even if the technology was facial recognition, which is not seen as robust as other biometrics such as fingerprint or iris. A key question was whether the removal of the border guard would remove the element of intuition, perhaps catching out a suspect passenger based on their behaviour. Murphy said that this factor would not be lost completely as there would be a supervisor in attendance and UKBA is thinking of introducing wider control zones, within which technologies such as behavioural analysis could be used. Turning to the biometric technology itself, Murphy said there was the risk of a greater false accept and false reject rate. However, he contended that the chosen manufacturer of the system for the trial had demonstrated to UKBA a very low error rate. “The only way we are going to find out the answer to this is to test it ourselves in a live environment, and use security testers to try and override the system.” From a public reaction perspective the main question is whether the public will use it. Another issue is how the public will handle rejection by the system – and indeed how UKBA will handle passengers rejected by the system. Also speaking at the Identity Loop show was the Portuguese Government and the supplier of its facial recognition system, Vision-Box. In Portugal almost 500 000 people are expected to use the ePassport facial recognition gates this year, and according to Francisco Batista, IT Director at SEF (Portuguese Immigration and Border Control): “We’ve been very pleased with the results.” Vision-Box had been set a target of achieving a false reject rate of less than 7% at a false reject rate of less than 1%. In fact, according to Batista the system is operating at an FRR of less than 2% and an FAR of 0% so far. Meanwhile each border crossing is taking an average of 20 seconds.
News Highlights UK plans automated facial recognition trials
1
US announces Global Entry program
2
CATSA expands Canadian airport worker scheme
3
Two thirds of shoppers to use biometrics by 2015
3
LG and Iridian see eye to eye once more… 4 …as L-1 releases new iris algorithm
4
UK ID card set up costs on the increase
5
Cogent Systems completes Maximus security purchase
6
DHS alters TWIC compliance date
12
Business Watch AuthenTec wins summary judgement
7
L-1 revenue soars
7
Lockheed and IBM team up on NGI
7
Feature Speaker verification: the future
This feature by Dan Faulkner at Nuance Communications looks at the voice biometrics market and future applications for the technology.
8
Survey Linking the person to the UK identity card
This article considers the linking of the identity of the person to an identity card, in particular, how biometric measurements can help to link the holder of the card to the information stored on the card. 9
Regular Items News in brief Events calendar Editor's comment
3–7 6 12
ISSN 0969-4765/08 © 2008 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.