BRIEF: The Biometric Technology Boosting Surveillance

For good or for ill, governments around the world have sought to track citizens and non-citizens alike throughout history. And for good or ill, biometric technology has emerged to make such surveillance easier and more effective. Particularly over the last several years, with the advent of facial recognition that can scan hours and hours of photos, video footage, and even live feeds, the real potential of biometric technologies in this field has begun to emerge. In other words, surveillance has long been a major market in the biometrics industry, and it’s now bigger than ever. Here are a few of the reasons why:

State surveillance remains a market driver:

Concert Arrest Demonstrates Growing Biometric Power of Chinese Police

Singapore Gov’t Invites Biometrics Firms to Bid on Lamppost Surveillance Program

… And that includes monitoring the border:

Orlando Airport Aims to Become First to Fully Implement Biometric Entry/Exit

Meanwhile, the military continues to pursue sophisticated biometric surveillance technologies for use in the field:

Army Researchers’ Algorithm Tech Converts Thermal Images to Conventional Portraits

And for the industry’s part, various firms are developing ever more sophisticated biometric surveillance systems:

Verint Launches Enterprise Facial Recognition Solution

Panasonic Puts a Name to a Face Scanning System for ISC West

Alibaba-Backed Funding Makes Biometric Surveillance Specialist the World’s Most Valuable AI Firm