i3 - January/February 2020 - 76

Policy

By Jeff Carter

G U E ST B LO G

Megatrend
Iris Biometrics

he biometrics market was valued at just over
$12 billion in 2018 and is expected to reach over
$69 billion by 2024. That 35.53%, growth rate
over 2018 makes it a hot market, standing out as one of
the 2019 Megatrends from SecurityIndustry.org.
Identity Goes Mainstream

The identity of the future may be a single credential, or even a virtual certificate that identifies who you are and
gives the system the ability to automatically revoke you if protocols are not followed. Frictionless access control is the
futuristic concept of free flowing yet
secure access to a space. It requires little
interaction and does not interfere with
users, eliminating the need for an
employee to carry a fob or remember
a PIN to enter an office.
Consumers want convenience, but
what about privacy? One of the key
trends witnessed in the next generation
biometrics market is a paradigm shift
in business discourse toward more
privacy and fewer security threats.
End-users are looking for integrated
solutions, rather than depending on
conventional methods.
Privacy and civil rights concerns have
escalated globally as face recognition
gains traction as a law enforcement tool.
On May 6, San Francisco voted to ban
facial recognition technology. It is the
first ban of its kind. The anti-surveillance
ordinance signed by San Francisco's
Board of Supervisors would bar city
agencies, including the San Francisco
Police Department, from using the technology since June 2019. Then the Boston
Globe reported the Somerville City
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JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2020

Council in Massachusetts voted to ban
the use of facial recognition making it the
second city to make this decision.
The California Consumer Privacy Act
(CCPA) - passed in June 2018 and
effective as of January 1, 2020 - will
have a serious impact on privacy rights
and consumer protection for the whole
nation as the law is frequently presented as a model for a federal data
privacy law. In that sense, the CCPA
has the potential to become as consequential as Europe's General Data
Protection Regulation (GDPR). In July
2018, Bradford Smith, Microsoft's president, compared facial recognition
technology to products like medicine
that is highly regulated, and he urged
Congress to study and oversee its use.
"We live in a nation of laws, and the
government needs to play an important
role in regulating this technology,"
Smith wrote.

CTA U.S. Senate Event:
Iris Biometrics

The majority shareholder for my company EyeLock is VOXX International
Corp. They've grown into a worldwide leader in many automotive,
consumer electronics and accessories
categories, as well as premium high-end
audio. Chairman and Founder John
Shalam founded Audiovox Corp., the

Each iris, left and
right are unique to
an individual, even
to identical twins.
The iris is fully
developed at birth
and does not
change over your
lifetime making
this a long-term
solution.

predecessor of VOXX International in
1965. He was instrumental in helping
CTA become an active participant in
the wireless communications industry,
establishing the Wireless
Communications Division in 2001, and
acting as its founding chairman.
CTA held a U.S. Senate visit led by
CTA's Jamie Boone. Tom Malone, president of VOXX Advanced Solution Corp.,
Michael Petrov, PhD and senior technical leader and I presented for two hours
that day - educating, demonstrating
the technology and answering questions.
Many asked about the privacy concerns for different types of biometrics
including facial recognition and iris
scans. Iris biometrics is being used
everywhere from airports, venues, shopping centers and even by law enforcement. While facial recognition tech has
received criticism for being able to pick
someone out in a crowd and identify
them without them actually giving consent, iris recognition is equally fast and
I T I S I N N O VAT I O N

http://www.SecurityIndustry.org

i3 - January/February 2020

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