NSW Police face questions on use of facial recognition algorithm from 2011

Australia’s New South Wales Police used a legacy facial recognition algorithm for over a decade and declined repeated offers of updates from the vendor, instead replacing it with a system adapted in-house from open-source code.

New information indicates that the decision to discontinue the use of the algorithm may be based largely on cost considerations, contrary to prior reports.

The PhotoTrac Suspect Identification System (SIS), which is used by State Intelligence Command’s Facial Recognition Unit and NSW Police’s Real Time Intelligence Centre, used a biometric algorithm from Cognitec. NSW Police used the Cognitec software from 2011 through the beginning of this year, despite having never contracted technical support or updates for the software, the company tells Biometric Update in an email.

The facial recognition system began using an algorithm known as NYX, adapted from open-source facial recognition model FaceNet, in 2018. FaceNet was originally developed by Google researchers back in 2015.

Media reports and a Green MP have linked the decision to stop using the legacy algorithm to the discovery that the accuracy of facial recognition systems differs based on demographics. Cognitec’s representative told Biometric Update in the email that NSW Police never complained directly to the company about any problems related to bias. While independent figures for the demographic differentials of Cognitec’s 2011 algorithm are not available, from a 2018 update to 2024, the company’s false match rate for the demographic group with the most errors, West African females 65 years and over, fell from 1.9 percent to 0.5 percent in NIST testing.

Cognitec is supplying facial recognition algorithms bundled with other software and cameras to Australia’s major international airports.

NEC looks to expand face payments program with Stripe terminal integration

Paper’s done, plastic’s over; it’s face time. In Japan, Stripe and NEC Corporation are partnering to enable in-store face payments through the Stripe Reader S700 payment terminal.

“Through this collaboration, Stripe is proud to support NEC’s world-renowned face recognition technology, enabling its use for payments through our unified commerce solution,” says Daniel Heffernan, product lead for Stripe in Japan.

NEC’s senior vice president, Kazuhisa Shimizu, says that “by combining NEC’s world-class face recognition technology with Stripe’s globally trusted payment platform, we aim to provide a new payment experience and create a world where everyone can safely, easily, and conveniently utilize digital technology.”

NEC has been pursuing biometric payments for a few years now: according to a report from Business Times, a convenience store at a private boarding school for boys in Japan has been trialing NEC face payments since 2022, allowing students aged 12-18 to pay for snacks and supplies with facial scans. The trial is reportedly part of a high-level push for NEC further into biometric payments, which also saw the firm pilot its biometric payments system at Expo 2025 in Osaka from April to October.

NEC payments, agentic AI tech on display at Singapore FinTech Festival

Integration with Stripe’s payment terminals would open up a host of new opportunities for NEC. Stripe Reader S700 is WiFi-enabled and designed for both countertop and handheld use, servicing customers in 25 countries.

The two firms plan to showcase the complete facial recognition payment experience with the Stripe Reader S700 at the 2025 Singapore FinTech Festival, which runs from November 12 to 14.

Agentic AI is also in NEC’s spotlight for Singapore. The firm believes AI agents have promising applications for connecting executives with procurement, supplier, logistics and finance agents, improving visibility across the supply chain and enabling real-time negotiations. Like many others, they also recognize the need for suitable identity orchestration and management systems to handle the influx of bots.

Vermont judge weighs jurisdiction claims in lawsuit against Clearview AI

The judge in a lawsuit filed by Vermont against Clearview AI over its collection of state residents’ face biometrics needs some time to consider the defendants claim that it should be dismissed for lack of jurisdiction.

State Judge Daniel Richardson agreed with the argument of Clearview’s attorney that the company is not conducting business in the state in the normal sense of having contacted, contracted with or taken information directly from people in the state, MLex reports. But a recent case in which California’s data protection laws were found applicable to ecommerce site Shopify or another suit in Vermont involving Meta could provide a more useful precedence, a state attorney argued.

Judge Richardson noted that in both cases, the businesses had consumers in the state interacting with them directly. He will consider how the pre-digital standards for minimum contact and purposeful availment apply in the current case.

“Even looking at Meta, which I think moves the ball significantly forward in how we understand jurisdiction in an e-commerce or internet age, there’s still some underlying traditional principles of contact that I want to look a little bit closer at,” Richardson said, as quoted by MLex.

The lawsuit is Vermont’s third try at suing Clearview, filed earlier this year just as the company was settling multi-district litigation over biometric data privacy in federal court. That settlement entitles the consumer class to a 23 percent stake in proceeds from a sale of the facial recognition company, but did not give state Attorneys General injunctive relief, and was opposed by 22 AGs.

Vermont Attorney General Charity Clark alleges Clearview violated the state’s Consumer Protection Act, and seeks an injunction forcing the company to delete its data, as well as restitution for consumers and civil penalties. Clearview filed its motion to dismiss the suit in June.

EU tests new biometric screening process for migrants at Lampedusa

Lampedusa, the small island between Italy and Morocco and a key entry point for irregular migration to Europe, has become a testing site for the EU’s new migrant screening process involving biometric registration.

The experiment is part of the implementation of the EU’s Pact on Migration and Asylum, designed to boost security screening and registration at borders and expedite processes for those who are denied asylum. The two-week pilot, conducted from October 13th to 24th, evaluated the tools and processes within the Screening Toolbox developed by EU agencies.

The procedures were tested on 240 people who arrived on the island irregularly. The testing was a joint operation between EU border agency Frontex, Europol, the European Border and Coast Guard Agency, the EU Agency for Asylum (EUAA) and Italian authorities.

“By preparing together, we make sure that the new EU screening process will enhance border management while safeguarding the fundamental rights of all those arriving at our external borders,” says Hans Leijtens, executive director of Frontex.

According to the Screening Regulation, which enters into force in June 2026, all third-country nationals arriving without authorization must go through checks within seven days at external borders or three days if the person is already inside the country.

The checks include health and vulnerability examinations, registration of biometrics in Eurodac and identification and security inspection by cross-checking data in EU border management systems. This includes the Entry-Exit System (EES), the Schengen Information System (SIS), the Visa Information System (VIS) and the upcoming European Travel Information and Authorization System (ETIAS).

“It is crucial for the EU Agency for Asylum to test the tools developed under the new Pact before their implementation,” says Nina Gregori, EUAA executive director. “The Screening Regulation is a key element of this new approach to effective migration management.”

The Pact on Migration and Asylum has been a subject of contention due to its reforms to the Eurodac biometric database and how biometrics are collected from minors. The Eurodac, which began recording the fingerprints of asylum seekers 20 years ago, is set to be expanded with facial biometrics. The proposal also calls for lowering the age at which subjects could be fingerprinted from 14 years old to six years old.

Critics have argued that EU authorities could use the data to implement more hostile asylum and border policies. Frontex, on the other hand, says that the regulation brings faster and more efficient processing for migrants.

UK’s Port of Dover postpones EES biometrics for car passengers

The UK’s Port of Dover has postponed registrations for car passengers under the European Union’s Entry-Exit System (EES) at the request of French authorities.

The cross-channel ferry and maritime cargo terminal introduced the biometric border registration scheme for all coach and foot passengers on October 12th, when the system was officially kicked off. The Port of Dover initially planned to extend the system to cover all other traffic last Saturday. French authorities, however, did not give the go-ahead for the launch, Reuters reports.

“Whilst Port of Dover’s facilities will be ready for 1st November, we are being guided by French authorities as to when we will activate,” says Doug Bannister, the Port’s CEO.

The EU has allowed Schengen member states to introduce the EES gradually until April 2026 in order to allow border control checks to adjust the flow of visitors and prevent long queues.

British and French authorities have also been collaborating to lower potential congestion. Biometric EES kiosks at London’s St Pancras railway station have temporarily removed certain questions in order to speed up traveler registration.

Operators of UK border controls on cross-Channel routes to the EU, including Eurotunnel, the Port of Dover and Eurostar, declared their readiness for the EES in September.

Amsterdam’s airport hires 200 employees to avoid EES queues

Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport has hired 200 new workers to assist non-EU travelers in registering for the EES through biometric self-service kiosks.

Passengers entering the Schengen Area member states are expected to scan their passports and submit their facial and fingerprint biometrics at the kiosks before proceeding to passport control. The Netherlands has opted for a phased approach, with Schiphol Airport starting a “small-scale launch” this Monday.

Currently, only a few dozen passengers a day are expected to register to the EES in order to help test the system, Rik Rovers, acting head of department at the Ministry of Asylum and Migration, told NL Times last week. Ultimately, however, Schiphol Airport will have to process between 15,000 and 20,000 passengers per day.

“We need to ensure everything works correctly and identify any issues. In December, we will process larger volumes,” says Rovers.

Other Dutch airports are joining Schiphol in gradually rolling out EES on Monday. The system is already in place at several seaports, including Eemshaven and the port of IJmuiden.

Metropolitan Police to expand live facial recognition use

The Metropolitan Police plans to intensify its deployment of live facial recognition (LFR) technology across London, citing its effectiveness in identifying suspects and reducing violent crime.

This follows the release of the force’s annual report, which lists more than 1,400 arrests linked to LFR use between September 2024 and 2025. According to the report, 962 arrests were made during that period, with more than a quarter involving offences against women and girls, including rape, strangulation and domestic abuse.

Of those detained, 549 were wanted by the courts and 347 by the Met, while 85 were arrested for breaching conditions such as those imposed on registered sex offenders and stalkers. The technology was deployed more than 200 times across London boroughs.

The Met highlighted the success of LFR at public events, notably the Notting Hill Carnival, where 61 arrests were made and 30 registered sex offenders were stopped over the two-day event. Among those apprehended was Tabsart Abderahmen, 58, who had been wanted since October 2015 for harassment.

However, the technology has faced criticism over privacy and potential bias. The report acknowledged that 10 individuals were falsely flagged by the system, eight of whom were Black. While none were arrested, six were briefly stopped by officers.

The Met maintains that the false alert rate remains low, standing at 0.0003 percent from over three million scans, and that demographic imbalances are not statistically significant, although it promised ongoing review.

The biometric software is supplied by NEC. In 2023 testing by the UK’s National Physical Laboratory (NPL), the Neoface software was found to work well despite age changes in subjects, camera angles, headwear and adverse lighting conditions. When checking against 10,000 reference images, one in 6,000 people were falsely matched and there was “no statistically significant race and gender bias.”

Civil liberties group Big Brother Watch has launched a legal challenge against the Met’s use of LFR, joined by Shaun Thompson, who was wrongly identified in February 2024. Jasleen Chaggar, the group’s legal and policy officer, described the technology as “Orwellian” and warned of its chilling effect on public life. She also criticised the lack of legislation governing LFR use, calling for government intervention.

The UK Home Office is in the process of drawing up a governance framework for the use of LFR by police, with Home Secretary Yvette Cooper planning to establish a foundation for facial recognition use by law enforcement. The Policing Minister Diana Johnson has been tasked with engaging police forces and other stakeholders to consult on a governance framework.

Meanwhile, public support for the technology appears robust. A survey by the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime found that 85 percent of respondents backed LFR to locate serious offenders and those at risk. The Met also reported a rise in public trust, with 74 percent of Londoners now trusting the force.

Lindsey Chiswick, the Met’s national lead for LFR, defended the technology’s role in enhancing safety and trust, calling it a “powerful and game-changing tool.” “We remain committed to transparency and fairness in its use.”

The Met reiterated that biometric data of individuals not on watch lists is immediately and permanently deleted. It now plans to increase LFR deployments weekly, aiming to further bolster its crime-fighting capabilities while addressing concerns over privacy and bias. “We are proud of the results achieved with LFR,” said Chiswick. “Our goal has always been to keep Londoners safe and improve the trust of our communities. Using this technology is helping us do exactly that.”

Outside of London, LFR assisted the arrests and charging of two people after police trialed the technology in Bolton town center. A local publication reported Inspector Jon Middleton from the Live Facial Recognition Unit saying the technology allowed the police to be “more proactive” in identifying and locating individuals who are wanted or missing.

Previously, His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary, Fire and Rescue Services (HMIFRS) urged UK police forces to “fully exploit” retrospective facial recognition, recommending that no investigation be closed before cross-checking images against available databases.