“Users in Rwanda, Senegal, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zimbabwe are currently required to upload pictures of their faces to the Humaniq app for registration and authentication based on facial recognition, with behavioral biometrics also playing a role in authentication.”
Humaniq has joined the Biometrics Institute, an international organization dedicated to the responsible use of biometrics.
In a statement announcing its membership in the group, Humaniq suggested that the move reflects its broader social mission. The company has designed a cryptocurrency-based mobile banking platform aimed at extending financial services to the world’s unbanked population, and the company has focused heavily on the African market in trialing the system.
Aside from the dangers inherent in exposing the personal savings of participants to the volatility of the cryptocurrency markets, Humaniq must also consider the implications of its use of biometrics for user authentication. Users in Rwanda, Senegal, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zimbabwe are currently required to upload pictures of their faces to the Humaniq app for registration and authentication based on facial recognition, with behavioral biometrics also playing a role in authentication. As with all such uses of biometric data, such technology entails ethical considerations including how the data will be stored and shared.
Thus, as Humaniq CTO Anton Mozgovoy explains, the firm’s collaboration with the Biometrics Institute represents an opportunity to further develop the company’s app and improve its security for end users in Africa.
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