The Week Of The Giant
OK, I don’t mean to make this blog site just about Morpho, the Biometrics giant I just wrote about yesterday. I do talk about other Biometrics vendors, their solutions, their products, achievements, and accomplishments and so forth. But when these guys come out, things are for sure happening in our industry. So, here we go . . .
The e-Passport
Morpho is providing the e-Passport infrastructure to the country of Panama: “The government of Panama has chosen the consortium led by Morpho (Safran group) and comprised of Thomas Greg & Sons, a specialist in secure printing, and IAFIS, Morpho’s trusted partner for implementation and management of biometric projects in Latin America, to supply highly secure e-Passports. Morpho is a leading provider of electronic documents and identity management solutions.” (SOURCE: http://www.findbiometrics.com/industry-news/i/9724/). Some notable features of this infrastructure include:
*This implementation will be over a five year period, thus guaranteeing a good source of revenue stream and business for a good period of time;
*A combination of Facial Recognition, Fingerprint Recognition, and Signature will be used;
*The e-Passport pages consist of polycarbonate, supposedly the most resistant on the market today.
Really, nothing new about the above, but the last bullet intrigued me. For as much as I have written about e-Passports, this is the first I have heard about this type of chemical composition to secure the pages of the e-Passport. Hmm, maybe the Biometrics Industry can partner up with the chemical industry to help develop more secure e-Passports? Just my thought to be pondered upon . . . .
Mobile Fingerprint ID DC Cops
Don’t think DC is nor protected enough? Well, DC cops now have a mobile arsenal in their shed. The details: “When making roadside traffic stops, patrol officers in the U.S. National Capital Region are now able to quickly determine if the individuals they face pose a potential threat because of their criminal past or can be safely and confidently cited and released. The latest tool in their identification arsenal is MorphoIDent, a mobile terminal developed by Morpho (Safran group) that fits in a shirt pocket and can capture unique fingerprint images in the field. MorphoIDent provides an intuitive user interface and a large color screen that is clearly visible outdoors.” (SOURCE: http://www.findbiometrics.com/industry-news/i/9725/).
Some other notable features about this solution:
*Up to two fingerprints per subject can be captured per subject;
*The result of the apprehended subject is returned in less than one minute (now since we are probably talking about wireless connectivity here, that is a quick return time, hopefully it is encrypted not only for ID Theft attacks, but also against potential lawsuits from the apprehended suspect).
At this point, is up to the arresting officer if the subject they have apprehended to be brought in for further questioning, or if they should be released. But an important lesson here is to be learned from 9/11 . . .technology can only go so far in determining if a suspect is truly a wanted person or not.
There is also the trained human judgment involved, which is just as much or more equally important than using fingerprint recognition.