Today 59

Yesterday 598

All 39412632

Friday, 19.04.2024
eGovernment Forschung seit 2001 | eGovernment Research since 2001

Biometrie

  • Philippine Senate mandates biometric voter registration

    On Monday, the Philippine Senate passed a measure mandating the biometric registration of voters.

    Voting 18-0, Bill 1030 was passed and requires voters who haven’t already submitted a biometric profile to appear before an election officer to have their photographs, fingerprints, and signatures processed for upcoming elections.

    According to Senator Aquilino Pimentel III, chairman of the committee on electoral reforms and people’s participation, Bill 1030 “will allow a thorough cleansing of the national voters’ registry that will reduce, if not eliminate, cheating and sure that the result of elections are reflective of the genuine will of the people.”

  • Plans for citizen ePassports announced in India

    The Indian Government is set to introduce an electronic and biometric passport to its citizens.

    Piloted in 2008 as a test, electronic passports were issued to diplomats and other high-level officials and now the Ministry of External Affairs is ready to begin distributing the passports to Indians across the country.

    Reported in iGovernment.in, the new passports contain an RFID chip in the front cover which holds a digital photograph of the passport holder as well as biometric fingerprint information.

  • Public appeals for biometric registration offices in all regions of Ghana

    Some employees of government and sub-vented employees as well as Cap 30 pensioners on Thursday appealed to the Ministry of Finance to consider opening up biometric registration offices in the regions.

    They have also suggested to the government, as an interim measure, to augment the number of computers and workers at the only registration centre located in the Ministry of Finance.

    They said these measures would lessen tension and corruption at the centre and relieve workers of nuisance and risk of having to travel to Accra to register.

  • Russian Passports With Digital Fingerprint Record to Begin Next Year

    Russians applying for biometric passports for foreign travel will be fingerprinted starting next year, and the prints will be added to a digital record, an order published on the government website said.

    The amendment expands authorities' list of biometric data to include prints of two fingers of the passport holder's hands, the order published Wednesday said.

  • Saudi to introduce biometric screening for visa

    Saudi Arabia is set to introduce biometric screening soon for visa applicants. The screening will be conducted at the visa service centres run by VFS TasHeel International across the UAE.

    The date for implementation of the new service has not been finalised yet, but it is expected to begin within three to six months.

    Raghu Athimoolam, chief operating officer of VFS TasHeel International, said that adequate arrangements have been made to meet the requirements.

  • Saudi-bound expats need to provide biometrics for entry into Saudi Arabia

    Pilgrims for Haj and Umrah also have to give digital photo, fingerprints soon.

    All expatriate residents in the UAE travelling to Saudi Arabia, for Haj and Umrah or otherwise, will soon have to give their biometrics for entry into the Kingdom.

    All such applicants planning a visit to Saudi will have to provide their biometrics at VFS TasHeel, which manages and administers the Saudi Arabian visa applications, senior officials of the firm said on Monday.

  • Seniors in Trinidad and Tobago to use biometric smart cards to access benefits

    Seniors in the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago will soon be able to use their biometrics to access social benefits, subsequently reducing incidents of fraud and providing a more secure system for the vulnerable.

    Minister of the People and Social Development Dr. Glenn Ramadharsingh announced the launch as he said there have been several reports of the elderly being robbed of their pensions, as well as instances where their cheques were lost in the mail. The new system will see benefits deposited directly into recipient bank accounts.

  • Sierra Leone to use biometric voter registration

    Sierra Leone will be using biometric registration for the first time in its upcoming presidential, parliamentary and local council elections in November.

    The country’s National Electoral Commission decided on the use of the new system of registration.

    Registrants will have a picture taken and provide their thumbprints. This information will be used to make sure that there are no duplicated voters and ensure the integrity of the country’s voter registry.

  • Singapore citizens can now access gov services with their face

    • Singaporeans can now scan their face to log into SingPass, as well as send an SMS one-time password to another SingPass user’s mobile number

    Biometric security measures keep gaining in popularity as use cases pop up in all manner of sectors, with the latest in Singapore being the addition of facial recognition verification to access online governmental services via SingPass, the official e-government account for Singapore citizens.

  • Singapore launches eGov app with biometrics

    Singapore has launched the Singpass app, which allows citizens to log into eGovernment services with biometric authentication.

    "The new SingPass Mobile app will offer a more convenient log-in option, as users no longer need to enter their passwords to log in," said GovTech's chief executive, Mr Kok Ping Soon, in a statement on Monday, reported the Straits Times.

  • Smart ID cards could be used in next South African general election: Minister

    By 2014, some South Africans will be using new smart ID cards in place of the existing green identity books and it’s possible the ID cards could be in use by the next general election, according to the country’s Home Affairs Minister, Nkosazana Dlamini-Suma.

    Reported in news24.com, Dlamini-Zuma said a pilot project is current underway, which aims to test the accuracy of the system, and eventually introduce it in phases.

    “The IEC is aware of the process and they are making sure they are ready,” the minister said.

  • South Africa to deploy biometric border capture at airports

    Senior South African officials have confirmed that the country will introduce biometric border controls after stricter visa rules were blamed for a dip in tourism numbers.

    Minister in the Presidency Jeff Radebe said on Friday that the nation will now accept visa requests by post and set up biometric testing at its airports.

    In the next three months‚ Cabinet has now mandated the Department of Home Affairs to Implement the capturing of biometrics at ports of entry starting with a pilot project at OR Tambo‚ King Shaka and Cape Town airports.

  • South Africa's social grant clean-up saves billions

    South Africa's move to modernise its administration of social grants, involving the live certification and re-registration of grant beneficiaries and the introduction of a biometric card payment system, is saving the country hundreds of millions of rands annually, says South Africa Social Security Agency (Sassa) CEO Virginia Peterson.

    Presenting the agency's 2012/13 annual report to the National Council of Provinces' (NCOP's) select committee on social services in Cape Town on Thursday, Peterson said that over 150000 grants had been voluntarily cancelled between June 2012, when the re-registration process began, and June 2013, amounting to an annual saving of R150-million.

  • South African Department of Basic Education eyes massive biometric system

    The Department of Basic Education in South Africa has plans for a massive project that would see 24,000 schools equipped with biometric clocking devices.

    The project is believed to be the biggest of its kind and is set to be active in 2015. According to a report in MoneyWeb, this system has been devised in an attempt to address teacher absenteeism.

    Currently, across South Africa, manual sign-in systems still exist for teachers, which has left the system susceptible to abuse and fraud. Some teachers sign in on behalf of others, while some forget to sign in at all.

  • South African Home Affairs on target to introduce Smart ID Cards in 2013

    The Home Affairs Department of South Africa has issued 100 pilot Smart ID Cards in the first two quarters of this year, well on the way to hitting its target to roll out the Smart ID Card in 2013, allAfrica reported.

    The Smart ID Card will replace existing civic and immigration identity systems and will allow the government to digitally capture all biometric and biographical data of South Africans in one single system.

  • South African Social Security Agency looks to biometrics to reduce fraud and corruption

    The South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) is looking to introduce a workforce management system in an attempt to limit fraud and corruption.

    Reported first in BDlive, Social Development Minister Bathabile Dlamini made the assertion that the agency is planning this implementation on Tuesday.

    “We’ll be introducing a biometric system for all employees, we think it will go a long way in reducing corruption,” Dlamini said.

  • Sri Lanka set to introduce biometric passports

    Sri Lanka is the latest country to bring biometrics into its passport system.

    Reported in ColomboPage, the Sri Lankan government has just received cabinet approval to implement fingerprint data to the country’s passports.

    This project is expected to cost US $5.11 million (Rs.679.7 million). Nearly all of this capital will come in the form of a grant from the Australian government, through the International Organization for Migration. According to the ColomboPage report, the International Organization for Migration, along with the Department of Immigration and Emigration will be responsible for project management and procurement.

  • Taiwanese electronic passport application fees set to drop in 2013

    Taiwanese citizens will pay less when applying for the country’s electronic passports in 2013 as the Legislative Yuan passed a first reading on fee reductions Wednesday, Focus Taiwan reported.

    Members of a legislative standing committee reached an agreement to cut the application fee for machine-readable regular passports from NT$1,600 ($55 USD) to NT$1,300 ($43 USD), starting next year. Additionally, the price of electronic passports valid only between three and five years, will be lowered from NT$1,200 ($41 USD) to NT$900 ($30 USD).

  • U.S. government spending on big data to grow exponentially

    Biometrics Research Group, Inc. has observed that national security and military applications are driving a large proportion of “Big Data” research spending.

    Big Data is a term used to describe large and complex data sets that can provide insightful conclusions when analyzed and visualized in a meaningful way. Conventional database tools do not have capabilities to manage large volumes of unstructured data. The U.S. Government is therefore investing in programs to develop new tools and technologies to manage highly complex data. The basic components of Big Data include hardware, software, services and storage.

  • UAE government examining biometric ID card for payments

    The UAE’s biometric civil identification card could soon be used for payments.

    According to an article in the Gulf News, authored by Ali Mohammad Al Khouri, the director-general of the Emirates Identity Authority, the UAE Government is currently looking at “how the smart identity card infrastructure in the country can support secure electronic payment systems suitable for both government and commercial purposes.”

    “Once we effectively deal with the security risks pertaining to electronic payment mechanisms, we are at the threshold of a clear win-win situation, promising unprecedented benefits for all,” Al Khouri writes.  “The cost and risks associated with physical cash have always been a determining factor behind new age payment systems.”

Go to top