Our Privacy Guidelines are the first comprehensive and universal privacy guidelines for biometrics. They outline key privacy issues that need addressing when introducing biometrics.

The guidelines are updated every two years by our Privacy Expert Group with input from many different sectors. They include 18 principles including proportionality, informed consent, protection of biometrics data and purpose and sharing of biometric data.

How do members benefit?

The guidelines provide a good introduction to the topic of biometrics and privacy, bringing members up to date on the key issues that need addressing when introducing biometrics.

Who updates it?

The Institute’s Privacy and Policy Expert Group (PEG) update the guidelines every two years to keep them current.

How to access the document

Members: Click here.
Non-members: Find out about becoming a member here.

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Updated in 2023, the guidelines now include:

• 18 principles ranging from respecting an individual’s privacy across all applications to public safety incorporating privacy principles
• A methodology to make planning, implementing and managing biometrics straightforward, regardless of your knowledge
• Insights into any new challenges and developments affecting biometrics
• Newly added definitions and scenario examples to help members test themselves against each of the guideline principles

We update our Privacy Guidelines every two years to make sure they reflect global changes in technology or legislation which impacts privacy. They are the result of extensive monitoring and consultation by our Privacy and Policy Expert Group, which comprises a broad spectrum of privacy specialists from around the globe.

Please note: This document is strictly for Biometrics Institute member use only. Reproduction is limited to a single hard copy for internal use. Electronic access is restricted to one system at a time, and the document must not be transferred, shared, or uploaded to any network, either internally or externally.

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The checklist was first published in 2013. As with all our guiding material, the Institute conducts regular reviews of its guiding material to ensure they stay relevant and that any global changes in technology or legislation are reflected. The checklist is the result of extensive consultation by the Institute’s Privacy and Policy Expert Group (PEG), who engaged with other groups and key stakeholders to ensure that it covers a broad range of issues for different countries, jurisdictions and sector.

The PAC references and is aligned to our Good Practice Framework and Privacy Guidelines.

Please note: This document is strictly for Biometrics Institute member use only. Reproduction is limited to a single hard copy for internal use. Electronic access is restricted to one system at a time, and the document must not be transferred, shared, or uploaded to any network, either internally or externally.

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The Privacy Awareness Checklist (PAC) is designed to be a simple and concise resource to raise awareness of privacy concerns whilst being universally useable. It encourages organisations to discuss their Personal Information processing, assess risks and threats, consider privacy awareness and training, and maintain a strong privacy and data protection environment.

How do members benefit?

The checklist helps members work through critical privacy issues right from the start of their biometric journey, reminding them to treat privacy as a key issue in their organisation.

Who updates it?

The Institute’s Privacy and Policy Expert Group (PEG) update the checklist as required to keep it current. It was first published in 2013.

How to access the document

Members: Click here.
Non-members: Find out about becoming a member here.

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The Biometrics Institute conducts an annual industry survey as a service to members to provide insight into different trends and important developments in the biometrics industry. The report also gives greater understanding into the projections and expectations for the industry in the coming year.

How do members benefit?

The Industry Survey allows members to understand current trends and areas of growth or decline within biometrics, providing comparisons with previous years and offering insight into key issues at a granular level.

Who updates it?

The survey is conducted by the Biometrics Institute annually.

How to access the document

Members: Click here for the latest report.
Non-members: Request an executive summary of the latest report here.

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Our latest Member Meeting in the Asia-Pacific region was attended by over 130 Institute members to discuss digital identity and creating trusted digital ID credentials under the Chatham House Rule.

Thanks to our moderator Brett Feldon, Advisory Council Member, Biometrics Institute and the panel of speakers:

• Jonathon Thorpe – General Manager Digital Identity and myGov Division, Digital Transformation Agency

• Sam Stuart – Director, Digital Identity, Cyber and Intelligence Solutions, Mastercard

How do we onboard the customer and create trusted digital ID credentials?

• How do you establish a trusted digital identity?
• What are the risks around remote self-enrolment?
• How do you mitigate against vulnerabilities?
• How do you anchor it against an identity?
• What are the solutions, and do we need some good practice principles?
• What if something goes wrong – how to protect the individual?

Documents of interest related to the discussion:

• Digital Paper
• 20-year Anniversary Report
• State of Biometrics Report
• Privacy Guidelines 2021
• Good Practice Framework (If you are interested in purchasing a copy of the framework please email carolyn@biometricsinstitute.org)

Please note that Chatham House Rule applies to all these resources. These resources were permitted by our speakers for our members only. It is very important that you do not share them or post them online. Many thanks for your cooperation.

• Brett Feldon, Advisory Council Member, Biometrics Institute
  Introduction and opening remarks:
  
  Download Now!
• Online meeting web chat
  
  Download Now!
• Online meeting recording
  Password: bJsAJJs7

US Member Meeting | 29 June 2021

Our exclusive US Member Meeting was attended by over 60 Institute members who discussed major issues around the proposed bans for facial recognition technology under the Chatham House Rule.

The meeting welcomed several key stakeholders as guests who made outstanding contributions to the conversation from a European perspective.

Thanks to our moderator Robert Mocny, Advisory Group Member, Biometrics Institute and excellent panel of speakers:

• Diane Sabatino, Deputy Executive Assistant Commissioner for CBP Field Operations, U.S. Department of Homeland Security – U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP)
• Arun Ross, Professor, Cillag Endowed Chair, Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Michigan State University
• Lisa MacDonald, Director, Identity Capabilities Management Division, Office of Biometric Identity Management, U.S. Department of Homeland Security
• Pam Dixon, Executive Director, World Privacy Forum

As the Biometrics Institute enters its 20th year, having been established pre-9/11 to promote the responsible and ethical use of biometrics, we will engage in even more active communication and education on biometrics with the support of our members. Over the years our biometrics community has conducted much testing around facial recognition technology which has shown that biometrics have become a reliable way to identify people quickly and efficiently.

Touchless technology is important in the context of rebuilding travel as we emerge from COVID-19.

Threats from hostile states, terrorists and serious criminals have demonstrated that the technology has an important role to play in national security and border management.

Automation has helped to improve manual processes, making them more efficient and secure. This same knowledge will allow the biometrics industry to seek and remedy vulnerabilities, as well as enable us to prevent new attacks by producing better products and services.

One challenge we are facing as an industry is that while we can quantify performance, we are still discussing how to quantify privacy. There was a reminder also in our US member meeting of the importance of the human in the loop, not leaving the final decision to a machine.

These discussions will continue at this year’s Institute Congress held throughout the biometrics month of October. More details and how to register can be found on the Congress 2021 event page.

Please note that Chatham House Rule applies to all these resources. These resources were permitted by our speakers for our members only. It is very important that you do not share them or post them online. Many thanks for your cooperation.

• Isabelle Moeller, Chief Executive, Biometrics Institute. 
  Introduction and opening remarks:
  
  Download now

•  Online meeting web chat
  
  Download now

Australia & New Zealand Member Meeting | 2 June 2021

Please note that Chatham House Rule applies to all these resources. These resources were permitted by our speakers for our members only. It is very important that you do not share these presentations or videos or post them online. Many thanks for your cooperation.

• Brett Feldon, Advisory Council Member & Digital Expert Group Head, Biometrics Institute 

• Paul Magee, President and Executive Director, Auraya Systems

• David Tharm, Technical Solutions Manager: Public, Transit & Enterprise, Giesecke + Devrient

• Dr Rachael Paton, Senior Teacher, Canberra Institute of Technology

• Online meeting web chat

International member meeting: Digital identity, biometrics plus privacy | 12 May 2021

Please note that Chatham House Rule applies to all these resources. These resources were permitted by our speakers for our members only. It is very important that you do not share these presentations or videos or post them online. Many thanks for your cooperation.

• Isabelle Moeller, Chief Executive, Biometrics Institute. Introduction and opening remarks:
  
  Download now
  
  
  
• Terry Aulich, Head of Privacy and Policy Expert Group, Biometrics Institute. Biometrics Institute Privacy Guidelines overview:
  
  Download now
    
• Brett Feldon, Advisory Council member and Head of Digital Identity Expert Group, Biometrics Institute. Biometrics Insititute Digital Onboarding paper overview:
  
  Download now
  
  
  

Roundtable discussion: Digital onboarding

– Why is biometrics important / impactful in digital onboarding?
– How is it different for different use cases: government, finance/ banking and travel?
– What does it mean if we do biometrics well and what are the potential consequences if done badly?

• Moderator: Brett Feldon, Advisory Council member and Head of Digital Identity Expert Group, Biometrics Institute
• Jonathon Thorpe, General Manager – Digital Identity and myGov, Digital Transformation Agency Australia (DTA)
• Sam Stuart, Director, Digital Identity, Cyber & Intelligence Solutions (C&I), Mastercard

• Dominic Phoon, Deputy Director (National Digital Identity), GovTech

• Chris Allgrove, Biometrics and Authentication Advisor, Government Digital Service, Cabinet Office

•  Online meeting web chat

•  Online meeting recording

Password: sTxR55yn

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Every two years, the Biometrics Institute updates its Privacy Guidelines to make sure they reflect global changes in technology or legislation which impacts privacy. They are the result of extensive monitoring and consultation by its Privacy and Policy Expert Group, which comprises a broad spectrum of privacy specialists from around the globe.

The membership organisation is launching its updated guidelines in Privacy Awareness Week (3-9 May) whose 2021 theme is ‘make privacy a priority’.

Key changes to the 2021 Privacy Guidelines update include:

• The strengthening of existing principles to meet developments since the last review, including COVID-19 effects on privacy, advances in artificial intelligence, the popularity of ancestry-type search engines and the increasing sophistication of international crime and terrorism
• Greater protection against cultural or other discrimination, and to ensure that people who do not have access to IT systems do not lose rights or privileges
• Stronger advice about openness and the gaining of informed consent
• Strengthening of advice to users such as police, courts and purchasing officers for major biometric systems to fully understand issues of accuracy, bias and success or failure rates
• Ensuring the fair handling of complaints and expert human intervention in cases where people are harmed or disadvantaged by the operations of a biometric system         

As biometric technology continues to affect a growing number of the world’s citizens, the Privacy Guidelines are designed to be universally useable and provide good practice advice on the roll out and management of biometric-based projects.

Terry Aulich, head of the Biometrics Institute’s Privacy and Policy Expert Group said, “The guidelines are not intended to replace local laws, but bring a higher level of good practice to the fore. Whether the users are police forces, the aviation industry, border authorities, humanitarian organisations, health researchers or social media companies, the guidelines are ethical and practical advice about obtaining a genuine balance between technology and human considerations.”

The guidelines, first introduced to Biometrics Institute members in 2006, are made up of 18 principles ranging from non-discrimination to maintaining a strong privacy environment. They also contain a methodology to make planning, implementing and managing them straightforward, regardless of members’ maturity in using biometrics.

The head of the Biometrics Institute’s Privacy and Policy Expert Group, Terry Aulich, will be discussing this update at an international online member meeting on 12 May.

The Privacy and Policy Expert Group comprises members from many countries and sectors and includes government privacy authorities, independent consultants, airports, academics, social media organisations and legal experts.

Members can download the guidelines here.

ENDS.

Notes to editors:

The Biometrics Institute is the independent and impartial international membership organisation for biometric users and other interested parties. It was established in 2001 to promote the responsible use of biometrics and has offices in London and Sydney.

With more than a thousand members from 240 membership organisations spread across 30 countries, it represents a global and diverse multi-stakeholder community. This includes banks, airlines, government agencies, biometric experts, privacy experts, suppliers and academics.

The Biometrics Institute connects the global biometrics community. It shares knowledge with its members and key stakeholders and most importantly, develops good-practices and thought leadership for the responsible and ethical use of biometrics.

For more information, please email Claire Fox Baron: clairefb@biometricsinstitute.org

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The Biometrics Institute welcomes the latest research from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), which offers the biometric community further insights into bias – otherwise known as demographic differentials.

Ultimately, biometrics is an extremely accurate but probabilistic technology, incredibly useful for searching large datasets quickly in ways that humans could not achieve. It is constantly being improved through testing including by independent organisations such as NIST. According to NIST, facial recognition technology today is 20 times more accurate than it was just a few years ago.

The issue of bias in biometric and AI systems has been a significant focus of public attention recently. NIST’s Part 3 of its Face Recognition Vendor Test (FRVT) demonstrates for some algorithms there can be situations where bias can arise.

The Biometrics Institute reinforces to its members the importance of knowing the algorithm they are working with. Biometrics Institute members, acting responsibly and ethically, should work with a good understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of the underlying technology. They should also have procedural safeguards and effective oversight in place to govern its application to protect human rights and privacy. In addition, they should consider independent testing of their algorithm.

“Biometric technology can be an effective tool to assist in identification and verification in an array of use cases. These range from the convenience of using your face to unlock your phone, to getting through passport control quicker, to the reassurance that a face can be found in a crowd far quicker with the assistance of technology than relying on a human alone. However, when we think of the word bias we tend to consider it as a pre-meditated, closed-minded and prejudicial human trait. It’s important to remember that technology cannot behave in this way. So-called bias in biometric systems may exist because the data provided to train the system is not sufficiently diverse. That is why in cases including law enforcement and counter-terrorism the human in the loop – to verify the algorithm’s findings – is often a critical aspect of using the technology.”

Isabelle Moeller, Chief Executive, Biometrics Institute

The Biometrics Institute recognises that, as with any technology, the convenience of its use comes with challenges. It takes human rights, privacy, spoofing, morphing and bias seriously and works diligently with its members, expert groups and the wider biometrics community to provide new, and update existing guidance to mitigate the risks. It provides regular events and training courses around the world to share and grow knowledge.

Patrick Grother – one of the authors of this report – presents regular workshops on bias for the Biometrics Institute. He will be speaking on bias in biometrics and demographic differentials at the institute’s US Conference on 24 March 2020 in Washington DC.

ENDS

Further reading:

The UN Compendium for the Responsible Use of Biometrics in Counter-Terrorism – co-authored by the Biometrics Institute which includes the section:

Ethical Principles for Biometrics

Notes to editors:

The Biometrics Institute’s US Conference is on 24-25 March in Washington DC. Confirmed speakers include:

• Patrick Grother, Biometric Standards and Testing Lead,National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)
• John Howard, Data Scientist,The Maryland Test Facility
• Frank Torres, Senior Policy Director,Microsoft
• Clare Garvie, Senior Associate, Center on Privacy and Technology,Georgetown University
• Jay Stanley, Senior Policy Analyst, Speech, Privacy and Technology Program,American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)
• Arun Vemury, Director, Biometric and Identity Technology Center, US Department of Homeland  Security

The Biometrics Institute is the independent and impartial international membership organisation for biometric users and other interested parties. It was established in 2001 to promote the responsible use of biometrics and has offices in London and Sydney.

With more than a thousand members from 240 membership organisations spread across 30 countries, it represents a global and diverse multi-stakeholder community. This includes banks, airlines, government agencies, biometric experts, privacy experts, suppliers and academics.

The Biometrics Institute connects the global biometrics community. It shares knowledge with its members and key stakeholders and most importantly, develops good-practices and thought leadership for the responsible and ethical use of biometrics.

For more information, please email Claire Fox Baron: clairefb@biometricsinstitute.org

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21 May 2019

Biometrics Institute calls for all law enforcement agencies, border management and governments to use existing good practices to ensure responsible use of biometrics

The Biometrics Institute is urging organisations to make use of existing good practice guidelines to prevent public confidence being undermined in the application of biometrics with policing and counter-terrorist procedures.

And in response to recent headlines around the misuse of facial recognition technology, it warns that if technology is applied without properly addressing potential flaws, then regulators may opt to restrict usage until they – and industry – can ensure proper privacy protections. 

The Institute plays a key role in informed, international discussion on the responsible and ethical use of biometrics and the limitations of the technology.

In the absence of international law and standards on biometrics, the Biometrics Institute has released a range of good practice guidelines to help organisations assess and implement responsible and ethical use in biometrics. It is now strongly recommending that organisations follow these guidelines to ensure biometrics are used appropriately.

These available guidelines have been compiled specifically for – and with the expertise of – the international member organisation’s multi-stakeholder community. They include Privacy Guidelines, Ethical Principles for Biometrics, Top Ten Vulnerability Questions and the United Nations Compendium of Recommended Practices for the Responsible Use and Sharing of Biometrics in Counter-Terrorism.

The Biometrics Institute has been working with the United Nations Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate (CTED) and the Office of Counter-Terrorism (OCT) since 2017. It was asked to help compile the UN’s Compendium of Recommended Practices for the Responsible Use and Sharing of Biometrics in Counter-Terrorism, which was launched in 2018.

The compendium is a 96-page high level overview of biometric technology and operating systems in the context of counter-terrorism. It includes:

• The governance and regulatory requirements for biometric technology from the perspectives on international law, human rights law, ethical reviews, data protection requirements and the right to privacy
• Potential vulnerabilities of biometric systems and some of the control measures that can be used to mitigate the risks
• Actions taken by authorities as a result of biometric matches, considered within the context of international human rights and the need for a fully-informed, lawful and proportionate response

“Biometric technology has the potential to aid and accelerate identification when used carefully by trained humans, following proper processes and using the technology in the way it was originally intended. But it is vital that anyone using biometrics to identify individuals follows responsible and ethical guidelines to avoid people suffering from the consequences of the technology not being managed properly.” 

“In cross-border terrorist investigations for example, strict protocols must be followed. The contextual assessment of biometric ‘hits’ is critical. Governments need to liaise effectively and confidentially so that any potential suspect is interviewed discreetly and can potentially be eliminated from the enquiry immediately – without undue publicity. Tight controls must be exercised and human rights and the right to appeal must be respected, as stressed in the United Nations compendium.”

Isabelle Moeller – Chief Executive, Biometrics Institute

Other reading:

United Nations’ Compendium of Recommended Practices for the Responsible Use and Sharing of Biometrics in Counter-Terrorism

United Nations’ Compendium summary brochure

Ethical Principles for Biometrics  

Privacy Guidelines

Notes to editors:

The Biometrics Institute is the independent and impartial international membership organisation for biometric users and other interested parties. It was established in 2001 to promote the responsible use of biometrics.

It has more than a thousand members from 240 membership organisations spread across 30 countries. It represents a multi-stakeholder community including government agencies, biometric experts, privacy experts, suppliers and academics.

The Biometrics Institute connects the global biometrics community, provides information to its members and key stakeholders and most importantly, develops good practices and thought-leadership for the responsible and ethical use of biometrics.

For more information, please email Claire Fox Baron: clairefb@biometricsinstitute.org

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2015 Survey Summary

2015 Full Report

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