The Department of Homeland Security’s Science and Technology directorate and the National Institute of Standards and Technology have tested technologies designed to combat identity fraud.
Held recently in Maryland, the Remote Identity Validation Technology Demonstrations tested commercially available systems’ ability to authenticate identity documents, DHS said. While the test events produced mixed outcomes, the trials involving facial recognition confirmed significant improvements in the capability.
Industry Partnership for Identity Tech Challenges
The result was unsurprising since the U.S. government has been evaluating face recognition technologies for decades with industry partnership, according to Arun Vemury, senior adviser for biometrics and identity at S&T. The evaluations proved that the government does best when collaborating with industry and organizing technology challenges, he added.
“This kind of public-private partnership helps elevate and advance technology for use across multiple sectors. Because we don’t have a competing interest, we can help bring these industry competitors together, foster collaboration and create a space where we can learn together,” Vemury explained.
Benefits of Technology Evaluations
Vemury stressed that such technology challenges provide transparency into government needs, create a level playing field for developers, accelerate the innovation cycle and promote an ecosystem for the best ideas to be recognized. He noted that running similar evaluations regularly can help developers implement improvements. S&T is working to automate the process and make it easier for companies to submit their technologies for future evaluations.
