Flawed exit plan pushed through

The US Homeland Security Department has pushed biometric exit procedures out of the pilot testing phase even though officials recently said they are not ready to be implemented, says Washington Technology.

The exit procedures would allow foreign nationals to check out of the country using biometrics. The US Visitor and Immigrant Status Indicator Technology programme conducted the biometric exit pilot at 14 major airports across the country during the past three years.

The move goes against statements by US-VISIT officials, who said a biometric exit process would not be viable for implementation because of DHS' move to a 10-finger scanning process. This technology could cause major delays for people leaving the country because the scanning procedure may currently be too slow.

Partners and educators concerned about the childhood obesity epidemic now have a new ally that's helping them apply tough love in the school cafeteria: fingerprint biometric readers linked to point-of-sale systems and home Internet connections that help them monitor and restrict children's unhealthy lunch purchases, says Open Press.

Over 12 million children the in US are overweight. As obesity has doubled for preschool children and teens and tripled for pre-teens since the 1970s, a growing number of obese kids are now at risk of typically adult weight-related conditions, such as type 2 diabetes, sleep apnea, and heart disease.

"It's now common to hear experts declare that this is the first generation of kids who won't outlive their parents due to diet and inactivity," says Deanna McDuffie, a school wellness consultant based in Orlando, Florida.

A new image acquisition and exploitation camera system will be released to the US Department of Defence by the end of this month, says Secure ID News. This is the first 'sci-fi' application of biometrics that lets troops identify their enemies at a glance.

The system identifies the face at the other end of the camera and in real-time displays any matches in the database on the small lens near his or her eye. Although extremely sophisticated, the system is unable to scan entire crowds and pick out known terrorists.

IAECS' software, produced by an undisclosed outside company, maps nearly 30 points on a person's face, such as the distance between the eyes, and creates an equation in order to compare individuals with those in the database. If the system doesn't find a match, it stores that person's biometrics for future reference.

Fujitsu has won the Frost & Sullivan Product Innovation of the Year Award for its palm vein authentication device, PalmSecure, reports TMCnet.

The biometric device has been recognised for its high level of security, performance reliability and consistent quality, and extensive user acceptance due to its non-invasive, contactless authentication process.

Frost & Sullivan evaluates products on the basis of their competitive advantages and magnitude of their relevant contributions to their respective industries, before deciding on the final recipient of the Product Innovation of the Year Award. They also look into factors like unique or revolutionary technology, the general product acceptance by the public and the sales figures.