Pupils at a secondary school in Berkshire, west of London, will be fingerprinted and their details kept on a database in a controversial scheme to be introduced this year.

The plan to scan pupils’ prints each time they enter or leave the school has been criticised by senior pupils, who say their human rights are being infringed. They say the storage of their biometric data on computer systems will breach their right to privacy.

Edgbarrow school, in Crowthorne, plans to pilot the scheme with senior pupils for a year, beginning in September, before deciding whether to fingerprint every pupil. Participation will be voluntary, the school said.

A spokesman for the civil liberties group Liberty said: “Our main concerns are what will happen to this data after the students have left the school. We will be monitoring the scheme.”

Read more here.

Summer’s approaching fast, and I’m sure you will be relieved to find out that you can authenticate yourself under water! Put your PC next to the swimming pool, dip this fingerprint scanner in the water, and whilst you’re scuba-diving in that 1.3m deep swimming pool of yours, just swipe your finger on the sensor and there you go, you’re into Windows! And the software is even available in English…

Dimensions: 38×81x40
Weight: 106gr
USB 1.1
OS: Windows XP, 2000
Price: +/- 137 EUR

More pictures at Akihabara News

With fingerprint scanners having become almost a commodity item nowadays it looks like we may now be in for a sensitivity war (oxymoron?) among these devices similar to the ongoing megapixel escalation in digital cameras. Even though it’s probably still vulnerable to Play-Doh-equipped hackers, NEC’s new external USB reader offers an impressive 800dpi in its 15-millimeter wide sensor — it seems the best you can do today is around 500dpi — which at the very least will marginally speed up your web surfing, thanks to its slim 0.0001% chance of misidentifying a print.

Buying one of these will set you back $250. Shipping August 1st.

From Engadget

Dell expands its portfolio of compact Latitude notebooks with the D420 model - the firm’s first light-weight model with a wireless broadband option and a Core Solo processor that enables a battery running time of more than seven hours.

The new ultra-portable Dell includes Intel Core Solo U1300 processor (1.06 GHz), a 12.1″ WXGA LCD, 512MB DDR2-533 memory and a 60 GB hard drive. Optional EVDO ($143) or HSDPA ($180) wireless communication cards, biometric fingerprint scanner, and a 9-cell 68 WHr battery which will increase your battery life to over 7 hours, while increasing the weight by .56 pounds. The standard configuration also includes a new feature called “Wi-Fi Catcher”, a switch that allows users to find wireless connections without turning the D420 on or booting the device up.

The Dell costs $1380 and is available for order today.

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Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) has contracted with Unisys Canada to develop a system to test the operational impact of using biometrics in CIC’s immigration program.

The field trial, which will take place over a six-month period, will begin once the required technology is delivered. The purpose of the test is to assess the impact of introducing fingerprint and facial recognition technologies on CIC’s operations and to determine whether biometrics could be used to identify people entering Canada and lead to a reduction in the potential for identity fraud.

The trial will only involve a limited number of temporary resident visa applicants and refugee claimants. CIC has been consulting with the Office of the Privacy Commissioner in Canada to ensure that appropriate measures are put in place to protect the personal information of field trial participants.

Companies providing technology for the trial include ImageWare Systems, a provider of identity management solutions. Its IWS Biometric Engine Border Management solution will include facial and fingerprint biometric capabilities for identification and verification purposes at designated ports in Canada, including US/Canada border stations in British Columbia; Vancouver International Airport; a refugee processing center in Etobicoke, Ont.; and Canadian immigration offices in Seattle and Hong Kong.

Article here

The federal government on Monday began an anti-terrorism program requiring truckers who haul hazardous materials to submit to fingerprinting and criminal background checks. It’s expected to take five years to check all 2.7 million truck drivers, and truckers fear logjams early in the program because there are so few places to be fingerprinted.

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Imagine that running your index finger over a sensor embedded in your computer logs you on, and then swiping the same sensor with your middle finger opens your Word program and your ring finger gets you into Excel. Sound futuristic? It’s not. It’s just one way fingerprint scanners embedded in computers today work to protect data and reduce the need to remember multiple passwords: Your fingerprints become a password manager, and a designated keystroke. U.S. consumers are increasingly likely to run across such devices that use biometrics — biological characteristics such as fingerprints, faces, irises and other means to authenticate someone’s identity. From the supermarket to the cell phone, biometric products are making inroads as an alternative to the variety of passwords and PINs consumers use today.

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DigitalPersona Pro Software Extends Support of Embedded Fingerprint Readers in Dell, HP, and Toshiba Notebooks.

Digital Persona, Inc., the leading provider of fingerprint authentication solutions for enterprise networks and commercial applications, today announced the latest version of its award-winning enterprise solution DigitalPersona Pro v 3.5, with support for notebooks from Dell, HP, and Toshiba with embedded fingerprint readers. Digital Persona had previously announced support for specific models of Lenovo/IBM and Itronix notebooks.

In addition to supporting the award-winning DigitalPersona U.are.U® fingerprint readers, Digital Persona Pro v 3.5 now offers seamless interoperability of fingerprint readers embedded with leading notebooks.

“With our support of mainstream enterprise notebooks from Dell, HP, Lenovo and Toshiba with embedded fingerprint readers, IT administrators can deploy DigitalPersona Pro to eliminate the security problems, burdens and management costs of passwords,” said Vance Bjorn, CTO of Digital Persona. “DigitalPersona Pro Workstation and Server software, enable centralized management and policy enforcement of authentication across Windows networks, Web sites and applications.”

This latest announcement continues to strengthen Digital Persona’s position as the industry-leader of advanced biometric authentication solutions across computer platforms and across brands of the world’s largest notebook manufacturers.

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Europeans expect benefits from biometric identity technologies but banks are not introducing them fast enough, claimed new research released by LogicaCMG on Monday.

The IT services company published research suggesting that the introduction of biometrics could lead to greater consumer confidence in switching between different bank accounts and other financial products.

Currently biometric technologies are based on measuring and analysing biological properties to identify individuals; for example, fingerprints, retina scan or voice recognition applications.

In April 500 “nationally representative” people from Britain, France, Germany, Netherlands, Spain, Portugal and the Czech Republic were interviewed by specialist IT market research consultancy Vanson Bourne in a “pan European” survey on attitudes to the electronic identification technologies.

On average, 84 percent of Europeans would be happy to have their fingerprint taken and iris scanned when travelling abroad as they believe this will speed up and ease the security procedures. Around 88 percent believe that biometric technology will reduce identity theft while 85 percent believe it will reduce financial fraud.

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ALL international visitors seeking to come to Australia may soon have to provide biometric identification, such as a fingerprint, to get an entry visa.

The Immigration Department is considering a biometric visa system to tighten border security.

Biometric visas would ensure that the person who applies for a visa overseas is the same person who presents themselves at Customs when entering the country.

It would also help the department avoid high-profile bungles such as the wrongful detention of Cornelia Rau or the unlawful deportation of Vivian Alvarez.

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Proving that there’s more to working in South Korea’s Ministry of Information and Communication than just building insect-like robot soldiers for surveillance and killing, the department has initiated a pilot program which was designed to prevent, and not cause, people’s deaths. Specifically, the agency is outfitting 100 elderly and disabled folks in Daegu City with so-called bioshirts, which as we’ve seen before, monitor a patient’s vital signs and wirelessly signal for help if anything is awry. Called the “U-Healthcare Service,” the $1.4 million program is initially targeting senior citizens who live alone, as well as patients with chronic ailments, and also provides options for running self-diagnostics, enabling remote monitoring, and even rudimentary medical consultations.

First they want to scan our brains for passwords, now they want to scan our faces as train passes? Privacy advocates, get on your tin foil hats facemasks, we’ve received report that Tokyo’s Kasumigaseki Station will be shutting down their totally antiquated FeliCa RFID / NFC payment systems for an hour or two daily for a couple weeks, and switching on biometric cameras that snap faces, match them to train passes, and grant entry (or deny it if your train fare’s depleted or late, or you, you know, are a terrorist). Despite lawyers calling it of questionable or outright dubious legality, it’s gonna happen over there alright — at least at Kasumigaseki Station — so if you’re in Tokyo and use this station, we have two suggestions: first is to wear a rubber mask of your pal so as to get on free and avoid detection. Second is to go to the next stop down the road in a show of protest for this system and in support of basic civil liberties and rights to privacy. You know, either works.