biometrics news stories on Newser

India Rolls Out Project to ID 1.2B Citizens

Rob Quinn — Wed, 29 Sep 2010 06:56:58 CDT

What could be the biggest IT project the world has ever seen gets under way today in a tiny hamlet in northern India. The village in Maharashtra has been chosen for the launch of India's ambitious project to collect fingerprints and iris scans from all of its 1.2 billion...

Security of the Future: Track Terror Intent in Faces

Kevin Spak — Fri, 28 May 2010 11:01:23 CDT

It sounds like something out of Minority Report, but Homeland Security scientists are actually working on a projects they think will be able to identify potential terrorists based on the way they blink, breathe, or balance their weight. Researchers are testing a variety of biometric sensors, in the hopes of...

Democrats' ID Card Plan: Get Your Fingerprints

John Johnson — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 13:15:00 CDT

Now it's the Democrats' turn to be accused of trying to violate civil liberties in the name of immigration reform. A crucial part of their plan calls for what amounts to a high-tech national ID card. It would have a "biometrics" component—namely fingerprints—and every worker would need one...

Fingerprint Surgery Fools Japanese Immigration

Rob Quinn — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 05:39:00 CST

An illegal immigrant slipped past Japan's biometric security system by having surgery to swap her fingerprints, according to Japanese authorities. The Chinese woman, deported after overstaying her visa last year, had skin patches on thumbs and index fingers removed and regrafted onto the opposite hands, the BBC reports.

Europe Moves to Fingerprint Travelers

Kevin Spak — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 13:25:00 CST

Just as Washington is pushing Europe to increase security, the European Parliament is considering fingerprinting every international traveler who enters or leaves the continent, the Washington Post reports. “It’s the only way to be really sure about identifying people,” an official said. The US backs the measure, which mirrors an...

FBI Develops Global Police Net

Peter Fearon — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 10:50:00 CST

FBI officials are holding key talks with international law enforcement authorities to develop a high-tech database of suspected criminals and terrorists. The "Server in the Sky" system, which uses sophisticated biometric data such as iris prints, could transform international policing. But it may be a hard sell in some countries,...

FBI Plans Huge Biometric Index

Nick McMaster — Sat, 22 Dec 2007 12:29:14 CST

The FBI is planning a $1 billion database of “biometric” information—face shapes, iris scans, palm patterns, and even gait patterns—to enhance investigations, the Washington Post reports. Critics fear that the plan, called Next Generation Identification, will further erode individual privacy as the body becomes a de facto identification...

Security Device Sector Booms

Jane Yager — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 04:32:59 CST

The inventions that turned up this month at a competition to find the world's most promising security start-up sound like prop candidates for a James Bond film than the real world: explosion-proof curtains and a hand-held tester for exposure to nerve agents were featured alongside the winner, a night-vision camera...

Thumb Prints Produce Cash in Rural India

Heather McPherson — Tue, 03 Apr 2007 11:22:37 CDT

Payday in rural India now comes with the scan of a fingerprint: Brand new biometric cash machines are letting illiterate laborers collect their meager wages hassle-free. Account holders are issued an ATM card bearing their thumb print information; when they withdraw money, they follow voice commands to retrieve their wages.