Privacy and border control are big themes in this week’s roundup of FindBiometrics’ most popular stories.
On the privacy front, readers were understandably interested this week by news that a California state senator has proposed legislation to provide strong protections for Californians’ biometric data – even beyond those described in the California Consumer Privacy Act. Additionally, the proposed law even shares an acronym with the nation’s toughest biometric privacy law, Illinois’ BIPA:
California proposes stricter data privacy regulations
Privacy was also a major factor in the controversy over the IRS’ decision to use facial recognition to verify the identity of taxpayers filing online. The latest, and possibly the last, entry in this saga came this week, with the news that despite denial from privacy advocates and scrutiny from mainstream media and political players, the IRS is s stick with ID.me’s selfie-based identity verification for the current fee. deposit season – although it will also offer a non-biometric option for those interested:
IRS backs ID.me biometric verification (for now)
Readers’ interest in these stories is understandable given the prominence of the privacy issue in FindBiometrics’ last year review report. There was a general consensus among respondents that privacy concerns represent one of the biggest challenges the biometrics industry will have to overcome in the future. Further information on the report’s findings was discussed at our recent Year in Review online summit, the highlights of which are now available:
Highlights from the FindBiometrics Year in Review Online Summit
When it comes to border control, the Caribbean island nation of Dominica got a lot of attention this week with news of its pivot to biometric e-passports. Citizens will have to upgrade their old machine-readable passports to the new versions by August 30, with the move expected to streamline border control while improving security:
Citizens of Dominica must switch to electronic passports by August 30
And in less benign border security news, Czech Republic officials piqued readers’ interest this week with their plans to ask their European Union counterparts to require biometric passports from Russians seeking to enter the Schengen area – an area intended to facilitate unrestricted travel between its member states. As the invasion of Ukraine began, Czech officials feared letting bad actors into the area:
Amid tensions in Ukraine, Czech authorities call on EU to require biometric passports from Russian travelers
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Keep reading FindBiometrics to learn more about the exciting world of biometrics. You can also visit our sister site Mobile ID world for the latest digital identity news.
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February 25, 2022 – by Alex Perala
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