Free Republic

I've gotten a few FReepmails asking for email services recommendations and I don't have the technical background to either warn against or recommend such services. One FReeper said Google is soon going to implement facial recognition or thumbprint ID etc. - is there anything out there still 'reasonably' private and not shifting to biometrics...yet? PS: Yes, I'm logged in. ;D

Satisfied with IAM systems after a six-team trial last season, the U.S. National Football League appears ready to go league-wide with biometric ID verification. The pilot came at the end of 3.5 years of digital IAM testing by the NFL. No sports leagues like to lose money when people get unpaid-for stadium access, but NFL owners are particularly upset by it compared to others. League owners are expected to set up a centralized facial recognition IAM service based on its Express Access authentication platform in the 2024 season. That would be for all 30 stadiums for the 32 teams, beginning...

Caribou High School has changed course and decided against implementing a biometric identification system to track student attendance. Parents and guardians of students who attend the high school were notified Wednesday that Regional School Unit 39 has abandoned its plan to use a finger scanning system at the high school, which enrolls about 460 students in grades 9-12. The RSU39 district serves students from Caribou and Stockholm. “Following careful consideration and feedback from our community, it was determined that the implementation of this system will not proceed,” Superintendent Jane McCall said in a statement released Wednesday. Only 2% of parents...

Have four retail credit cards serviced by Synchrony Bank. One of the cards (Crate and Barrel) was locked by them yesterday, with a credit balance of almost $700. Called to ask why the lock was put in place. They said that a "fraud" lock was put on. We see no unusual activity on the account and don't use it very often. None of our accounts have a balance owed. In order to remove it they are demanding biometrics. A five-second video recording showing all angles of the face - that will then be fed through an AI program to generate...

Fortress Safe has recalled 61,000 biometric gun safes which use fingerprint technology to unlock after a child managed to open one and kill himself. The US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) and Fortress ordered the withdrawal of the safes from the market because the biometric reader on the lock can be opened by unauthorized users. It is unclear how or why the glitch has occurred. In their recall, the government agency said they are aware of a lawsuit against Fortress alleging a 12-year-old died after obtaining a firearm from one of these safes and shot himself. Further details on the...

AUSTIN –– Transportation Security Administration chief David Pekoske said the agency wants to use technology to reduce the number of screening officers in checkpoints and speed up travel processes as passenger volumes increase. At Tuesday’s panel at South by Southwest, which focused on accelerating aviation security, he boasted about the agency’s computed tomography technology and biometrics. Despite struggling with staffing a year ago, Pekoske said that nearly 2.4 million people are screened on a given day by TSA. Pekoske said that TSA’s purpose is to make sure it maintains its security and transportation system at the same time, while staying...

In the coming weeks, Amazon plans to expand its “Amazon One” palm reading biometric payment system to 65 Whole Foods Markets throughout California, starting with locations in Malibu, Montana Avenue, and Santa Monica. The expansion, first reported on by The Verge, marks the biggest step forward yet in Amazon’s effort to normalize biometric payments. Amazon One works by linking a customers’ credit card to their unique palm signature. Users then hover their hand over a palm reader to pay, in this case for their overpriced groceries. Prior to the recent expansion effort, One palm readers were limited to seven Whole...

A federal law passed in February 2012 to help middle class families by creating jobs and cutting payroll taxes included a section mandating the creation of a nationwide interoperable broadband communications system for law enforcement and first responders. The system, which is being created under the direction of the First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet), seeks to create a nationwide broadband network capable of being used for a variety of law enforcement purposes including remote surveillance, mobile biometric applications like field fingerprint scanning and facial recognition, as well as automated license plate reading. The system is currently in a pilot phase...

Delta Air Lines is testing new biometric technology that promises to speed you through the airport — or at the very least prevent you from repeatedly fumbling for your ID and boarding pass. The new technology will roll out in Atlanta and Detroit as soon as Nov. 3. It is only open to Delta SkyMiles members who have U.S. passports and are eligible for TSA PreCheck. They must first store their passport number in the Fly Delta app, and this new service is only open to those checking in via the app. The biometric information is pulled from a U.S....

Taliban likely to have access to biometric databases of Afghan civilians who helped US August 25, 2021 There are growing concerns that the Taliban, after taking control of Afghanistan, has gained access to biometric databases made with the help of US-built military devices, using which they could identify and target Afghans. “We understand that the Taliban is now likely to have access to various biometric databases and equipment in Afghanistan, including some left behind by coalition military forces,” Human Rights First, an international human rights organisation based in New York City and Washington, noted. One such handheld biometric device, known...

"We would go into villages and enrol people into this biometric data system," US Marine Special Operations Command veteran Peter Kiernan recalls. "You had a device about 12 inches by six inches wide. It would scan their fingerprints, it would scan their retina, it would also take a picture of them." A United Nations document recently seen by the BBC says the Taliban are intensifying their hunt for people who worked for, and collaborated with, Nato and US forces. And the giant stores of biometric data collected by both the US military and the Afghan government could, some argue, pose...

The Taliban have reportedly seized biometrics devices used by the US military that could help identify Afghan nationals who worked for the US government and aided coalition forces, raising concerns the Taliban could use the information to retaliate in the wake of the collapse of the US-backed government. The devices, known as HIIDE, for Handheld Interagency Identity Detection Equipment, were seized last week as the Taliban went on an offensive march to overtake Kabul, Afghanistan's capital, sources tell The Intercept. Information stored on the devices include iris scans, fingerprints and biographical information, the news outlet reported Tuesday. They can also...

Biometrics in future of vaccine passports Any kind of document, especially a passport, needs to be built on a foundation that allows it to operate across borders and jurisdictions. Biometrics could be the easiest and fastest path to get started. It can add convenience and security, while identifying a person’s vaccination status easily. Modern biometric solutions have many different modalities at their disposal, from fingerprints and face to voice and iris recognition. The biometric modalities most likely to be used for vaccine passports, however, are anticipated to be face or voice recognition, as these can easily be performed on an...

Has anyone started the process of opting out of the Child Tax Credit advance? I have, and it scares the hell out of me. The IRS website sends you to a partner company website called ID.me. They start by asking for your cell phone number so they can establish 2-factor identification. I figure no sweat, so I did that. Then they want you to take photos of the front and back of your driver's license. I figure the federal government probably already has that data anyway, so I did that. Then they want you to take a selfie. A series...

President Joe Biden’s administration on Friday rescinded a Trump-era plan to collect facial scans and DNA from immigrants when they apply to enter the United States. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said it has “withdrawn a proposed rule that would have expanded department authorities and requirements for collecting biometrics by removing age restrictions; requiring submission of biometrics for every applicant, petitioner, sponsor, beneficiary, or other individual filing for or associated with any immigration or naturalization benefit or request unless DHS waives or exempts the biometrics requirement.”

Amazon delivery drivers nationwide have to sign a "biometric consent" form this week that grants the tech behemoth permission to use AI-powered cameras to access drivers' location, movement, and biometric data. If the company's delivery drivers, who number around 75,000 in the United States, refuse to sign these forms, they lose their jobs. The form requires drivers to agree to facial recognition and other biometric data collection within the trucks they drive.

No sane person enjoys standing in an airport security line. In some cases, especially when you’re late for your flight, the wait to get through security can seem like hours or even days. And wait times to make it through airport security have indeed gone up over the last 20 or so years in response to terrorism threats. Fortunately developments in artificial intelligence (AI) are beginning to make it easier to get through airport security. Airports, airlines and government security agencies generally must balance two competing objectives. The first is to ensure that robust and effective aviation security programs are...

Ditching credit cards for facial recognition will remove the last physical barrier between our bodies and Corporate America Aram Sinnreich recently went grocery shopping at a Whole Foods Market in his hometown of Washington, D.C., and realized he had left his wallet at home. He had no cards and no cash, but he had no reason to worry — at least, not about paying for his food. “I used my iPhone to pay, and I unlocked it with my face,” he said. That’s when it struck him: We are just one small step away from paying with our bodily features...

It finally happened. The feds forced an Apple iPhone X owner to unlock their device with their face. A child abuse investigation unearthed by Forbes includes the first known case in which law enforcement used Apple Face ID facial recognition technology to open a suspect's iPhone. That's by any police agency anywhere in the world, not just in America. It happened on August 10, when the FBI searched the house of 28-year-old Grant Michalski, a Columbus, Ohio, resident who would later that month be charged with receiving and possessing child pornography. With a search warrant in hand, a federal investigator...

India's Supreme Court has ruled that the country's controversial biometric identity scheme is constitutional and does not violate the right to privacy. However the court limited the scope of the Aadhaar scheme, saying it could not be compulsory for bank accounts, mobile connections or school admissions. The world's largest biometric ID database covers welfare and tax payments and access to social services. More than a billion Indians have already been enrolled. Many don't have other forms of identification - only 65 million own a passport and 200 million have a driving licence. Those who enrolled in Aadhaar received a unique...