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Iris Recognition To Take Off
An anonymous reader writes "Looks like iris recognition is about to explode. Turns out, a major patent held by iris recognition leader Iridian is expiring, and that's leading a stampede of start-ups and VCs into this space."
~~~
It's not often that you read about a company's patent expiring being likely to benefit it financially. Quite interesting.
500GB of disk, 5TB of transfer, $5.95/mo
all the business and startups poping up once some company looses hold and some "idea", ie patent, and they will discover this revelation - more than one person can have the same idea *gasp*!! But I just don't have that much optimism.
A patent exipry causing a boom in company startups and innovation - say it ain't so. Are there any legislators out there paying attention to stories like this?
Turns out, a major patent held by iris recognition leader Iridian is expiring, and that's leading a stampede of start-ups and VCs into this space.
Ah patents...Look how good they are for society!
I believe iris recognition takes some time to verfiy the identity of the person as the person has to stand close to a certain point and then the scanner would scan the eye. So this will take more time than pulling your card out and swipping it and walking through the doors. Therefore this tech will only be used in high security area and most of them I guess are already using it.
What does your Credit Report look like?
Trust me I got one of these things, they suck. It only works like half the time, real secure huh! I hope these startups can bring some new ideas to the marketplace. What really angers be is Iridians lack of linux support. Hopefully these new companies will bring that to the arena
I won't believe it until I see it with my own eyes...
Of course, I'll need some of this new technology to make sure they really are my own eyes.
I thought SGI was going bankrupt. Don't tell me they're come out of bankruptcy with a new version of IRIS. Some companies just never learn how to die properly.
Just who is this "Iris" person anyway, and why is she so hard to recognize?
The higher the technology, the sharper that two-edged sword.
This points to the obvious "next big thing":
Tinfoil Contact Lenses(TM)
Iris Scans' Leader Looks Secure
Dominant player Iridian's patent on the technology is expiring. Rivals plan to jump in, but overtaking the pioneer is unlikely anytime soon
In the mid-1980s, ophthalmologists Leonard Flom and Aran Safir realized that no two patients' irises were alike, and the idea of identifying people by their irises -- the colored part of the eye surrounding the pupil -- was born. In 1987, the pair were issued the so-called Flom patent, which has given the company they founded, Iridian Technologies, dominance in the iris-recognition market.
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But Iridian's market leadership is about to be challenged. The Flom patent expired in the U.S. in February, and it will expire in Europe and much of Asia in 2006. This means a struggle over the rollout of new iris-recognition products, with smaller startups already beginning to challenge Iridian's lock on a business expected to grow more than sixfold by 2009.
ACQUISITION TARGET? Competitiors, however, will have a hard time catching up to Iridian, which is flush with cash and likely to become more so. In April, the privately held company closed yet another $5 million round of funding. Now that iris scans are showing such promise, many venture-capital firms view Iridian as an attractive investment or acquisition prospect.
Take Robert LaPenta, co-founder of defense contractor L-3 Communications Holdings (LLL), who formed a $250 million biometrics fund on June 7. He says the money will be used to cobble together a biometrics powerhouse. LaPenta plans to purchase several outfits in fingerprinting and facial and iris recognition to develop a single, superreliable system integrating several biometric methods.
And Iridian is on the short list, says LaPenta. "We're looking at market leaders to acquire," LaPenta says. Iridian says only that it might seek more funding in the future.
CROWDING FIELD. Since its founding in 1990, Mooretown (N.J.)-based Iridian has controlled about 99% of the market, licensing its software and knowhow to a few iris camera makers such as Panasonic (MC ) and LG Electronics. It has successfully sued for patent infringement every company that has tried to slip into the market without its blessing.
While Iridian still holds some two dozen active patents on everything from ways to digitize an iris scan to camera design, expiration of the Flom patent will finally allow a stream of competitors to enter the iris-recognition market. Within a year, at least five well-established players will be in the market, believes Maxine Most, principal for Boulder (Colo.) biometrics consultancy Acuity Market Intelligence. Other analysts peg the number at a dozen companies.
This influx should boost the iris-scanning market, which has long lagged behind that of fingerprinting (the leading biometric today) and facial identification. Iris recognition -- widely considered to be the most accurate method of quick biometric identification -- hasn't taken off due to governments and large corporations hesitating to rely on a single vendor, says Prianka Chopra, an analyst with Frost & Sullivan. A year ago, Iridian had to start offering no-cost licenses to developers for use in passport and visa verification so the International Civil Aviation Organization, which sets standards for international travel documents, wouldn't axe the possibility of the technology's future use over concern about having a single supplier.
AIRPORT SECURITY. Now that the Flom patent is becoming history, the iris-recognition market is projected to skyrocket. It's set to rise from $81 million last year to $518 million by 2009, Chopra estimates. That would make it one of biometrics' fastest-growing areas.
Iridian is still expected to be a big beneficiary in the next few years. But other iris-scanner startups will get a piece of the action, as various governments and agencies are expected to adopt the technology within a couple of years.
Several U.S. government and international agencies are close t
1. You can change your password but you can't change your iris.
2. If you are threatened with violence, you can tell the attacker your password, but would you want to give them your eye?
I'll probably be modded down for this...
So much for patents encouraging innovation. BZZZZT!
In other words, now we can have iris recognition on our laptops? Wow, I can just imagine our laptop LCDs scanning our eyes when we look at the bios POST screen or the longhorn logon window... God thats going to be creepy
Viable Slashdot alternatives: https://pipedot.org/ and http://soylentnews.org/
"Yarrr, two glass eyes"
Comment removed based on user account deletion
I suggest you read Slashdot
the Internal Revenue Service had developed some new way of finding me?
Are we talking Iris or Retina here?
Because I've never heard of using the Iris and don't know anything about its uniqueness. Where the retina is easily scanned and heavily researched.
Anybody know more? or is this a typo?
Good to see the Idirians are contributing peacefully to the Galaxy once again...
Regardless of what you may think of iris recognition, this is proof of how the patent system doesn't work. The technology for this has probably been around for 20 years, but it hasn't been able to be used because some shithead corporation owned a patent. This enabled them to browbeat competitors out of existence, and only now that the patent is nearing expiration can anything "innovative" happen.
I won't believe it until I see it with my own eyes...
I'm afraid you won't be able to see it until you see it with at least one of my eyes. Access Denied.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
We use it at the financial company I work at for access control. It is good solid stuff. The only downside is it is not as cool as the movies. Basically it is 2 high resolution black and white camera and a womans voice that says "Look in the mirror" "move back a little" or "move to the left" or "right" and then "access accepted". So no lasers or flashing light. But good solid access control.
Out of curiousity, does anyone know if iris recognition is defeated by contact lenses? I'm guessing that normal corrective lenses might be OK, but I have difficulty imagining iris recognition working through lenses that modify the color of eyes and other such. Will airport security be demanding that people remove their contact lenses prior to the security screening next?
Kiss Me I'm Irish!
Oh wait, nevermind, misread the headline.
Already there are a number of comments sarcastically noting how patents stifle innovation. The problem here was not the patent system but Iridian's short sightedness in developing and marketing the product. If government was one of their main buyers, and if governments were reluctant to rely on one supplier, then Iridian should have licensed their patent to a number of other companies.
IBM licensed their PC design to a large number of companies, did they not? Because of patents they recouped the money they invested in PC development and allowed for competitors -- promoting innovation.
Moreover, that Iridian's handling of their patent worked to "stifle" innovation just doesn't hold up in the long run. If iris recognition is an idea that will last, it's only been about twenty years that this patent has enforced a monopoly. Twenty years is hardly holding back society.
Abuse of the patent system hurts us all; but patents issued properly are a boon to society, providing the hope of reward to the creator. Some creators may squander their patents, that can't be helped. Some people crash their automobiles, killing themselves and others, but the automobile is still regarded as a societal good in the balance.
To get rid of the patent system is to throw the baby out with the bath water.
quiquid id est, timeo puellas et oscula dantes.
Criminals already cut fingers to open car doors, no thanks for our eyes.
"Don't believe the Hype!"
Don't think that a small group of dedicated individuals can't change the world. It's the only thing that ever has.
If you RTFA, or have my doc check your eyes (ooh, I'm way overdue), you'll know it's irises. Flom noticed that the iris is unchanged over years of exams.
Note, that also puts the kibosh on the pseudoscience of iridology.
The latest Slashdot meme.
Sounds a lot like the RSA patent. The patent expired and suddenly ten minutes later, there was encryption everywhere. The useful arts and sciences are suddenly progress.
for example, an untreated diabetics' eyes show some filaments that will disappear when he starts geting treatment.
And diabetes is only one disease which affects the patterns which can be detected in the iris. Many other diseases affect both the radial disposition and the radial pattern. The medical books are filled with disease effects on the eyes.
While iris scanning for recognition is useless, it IS extremely useful as a diagnostic tool in medecine.
For personal identification, you would want to scan the blood vessels in the retina. Those are relatively more stable under a wider range of biological conditions.
But the eyes is a bag of watery tissue. Its subject to varying degrees deformation under a wide variety of physical and bioogical conditions.
How would you like to be refused admision to your work place when all you did was eat some food containing some mono sodium glutemate for lunch? It that easy to screw your patterns.
MSBPodcast.com The opinions expressed here are my own. If you don't like 'em... Think up your own stuff.
"Looks like iris recognition is about to explode."
..but isn't exploding iris recognition hardware a bad idea?
...but all my cards just have a magnetic strip on the back. I'm also waiting for my flying car and robotic manservant. Or womanservant. Whatever.
The "next big thing" eh? That reminds me of a joke =)
An anatomy professor is quizzing his students one session when he calls on Suzy with question, "Suzy, what part of the body has the ability to expand to six times its normal size and under what conditions?" Suzy indignantly replies, "Professor! How dare you ask me such a thing, and in front of the entire class no less! I assure you my parents will be hearing about this incident, and you will no doubt have to answer to someone for it!" The professors tells her she may sit down and then asks Emily the same question. Emily replies "The iris. In the dark." The professor continues, "That is correct Emily, you may be seated. Suzy, your answer tells me three things. 1) You have not studied your lessons, 2) You have a dirty mind, and 3) You will be very disappointed one day."
;-)
Why develop a device that can sniff butts? Dogs seem to be pretty adept at this.
It's the patent-holder's fault.
They made an educated but probably incorrect guess that by holding tight they could maximize profits.
I think in retrospect their executives are thinking "What if we had licensed our technology cheaply and liberally 20 years ago?"
Fortunately, iris recognition isn't something the world depends on. If this had been an HIV drug, you would've seen governments get involved and threaten to sieze the patent.
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
Sorry. Eyeball recognition is right out. Besides, there are lots of problems with using it in practice that aren't that easy - databases still are never 100% correct, and once the Feds have put somebody with a similar name to yours on the Don't Fly List without a trial, and the airlines have put your eyeball print on the computer with your name and refused to put you on a flight because your name is similar to the guy on the list, your terrorist status is just going to propagate to anything that uses your eyeball print.
Bill Stewart
New Fast-Compression-only CPR http://preview.tinyurl.com/dy575ks
Why would your no fly status propagate to anything else? That is like saying that if your no fly status is associated with your name, then anyone you tell your name to will automatically find out that you are on the no fly list. You criticize the government for convicting without trial, but then you turn around and convict the companies running the service without a trial. Granted I'm not a huge fan of iris scans being used in this way, but I think that you hold a double standard which is inherently unfair.
Biometric recognition systems have generally been designed to only work if the part is still attached.
Retina scans depend on blood vessels in the eye - which change radically if said eye is detached (or the owner is dead).
Fingerprint scans are usually designed to check for electrical conductivity, which is different for an attached finger and a detached one.
My Journal
One of the more broadly applicable studies, performed for the UK Passport Office (reports downloadable from http://www.passport.gov.uk/publications.asp) with just over 10,000 participants, found that 1 in 10 British Citizens were unable to even successfully enroll their iris patterns into the system. And afterwards, the system couldn't confirm that 5% of the participants were still the same person.
A facial recognition system was even less reliable, but nevertheless the goverment is going ahead with deployment in every passport.
Taxation without representation is tyranny! Statehood for DC, Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands & Pacific Territories!
Next thing you know, you'll have to stick your eye into all kinds of devices everywhere you go to authenticate your identity. And the next thing that will happen is that thieves, gangsters, thugs, and other malcontents will go around poking persons' eyes out to use them in these iris detection devices. It's going to be disgusting, and there will probably be a lot of people out there missing their eyes.
I work at a facility where iris scanners are in use as security to the data center. We've had all the usual discussions about gouging out someone's eyeball and using it as a "key" to enter the secure facility. Contrary to myth, this will not work.
Once the eye has been separated from its owner, the blood and other fluids inside immediately begin to alter their state due to lack of oxygen, damaging the appearance of the iris enough to make it unrecognizable to the scanner within just a few minutes.
If you're going to use someone else's iris, you're better off holding a gun to their head to let you in.
Tired of FB/Google censorship? Visit UNCENSORED!
...how technology, good or bad, seems to actually show up in the market place after the patent expires. Strange, that.
From TFA "... the iris-recognition market is projected to skyrocket. It's set to rise from $81 million last year to $518 million by 2009, Chopra estimates." An intersting item, but the claim above rather weakens the whole article. I guess he could have said $518.437 million.
I thought that "Iris" recognition reached its peak with the release of City of Angels.
The whole article basically sums up why patents don't work as intended. And I'm not talking about software patents, all patents. This field could have been huge 10 years ago, generating billions of dollars and furthering innovation. The supposed purpose of patents is to foster innovation and invention, alas, patents just stymie innovation for 20 years until they expire.
If as I've said before patents lasted 3 years, maybe 5 at the very most, they would probably be a good thing, in 3 years Iridian would have been able to establish itself as a market leader, and every newcomer to the field would most likely license their stuff anyway (under copyright, or some other license generated by the company). Instead it takes 20 years to get an iris scanner on my laptop, or built into a security system at my house? Those things should have been done in 92.
...and we'll all be living in that annoying-advertising scene from Minority Report.
"[Scan] [Beep] Hey, Larry Melman! Refinance now!!"
"[Scan] [Beep] Viagra is now over-the-counter, Mr. Melman!"
"[Scan] [Beep] Larry, buddy! Long time no see! Did you ever get that diploma? Well, now you can!"
"A great democracy must be progressive or it will soon cease to be a great democracy." --Theodore Roosevelt
Why does such a lame joke get moderated up to 5?
Minority Report.
With spending like this, exactly what are "conservatives" conserving?
I can see thinkpads giving up on the fingerprint check: Instead of the led light for my Thinkpad T23, the Thinkpad T63 will have an iris scanner. I wonder if it will provide a little light on the side...
Building a healthy future; Connecting communities
Mod down karma whore - this is the linked article.
I have Urrets-Zavalia syndrome you insensitive clod!
I see something similar to this happening to M$. I keep seeing wild and crazy patents submitted by them that will take 20 years to develop ... right in time to expire.
Remember folks, slashdot doesn't have a -1 "disagree" moderation!
Rockets from their sockets!
if i lost my eye, i know it's a difficult surgery and only a handful of eyes would be compatible with my body, but by changing my eye, wouldn't that give me a new iris?
HD Trailers
Alex (if that's your real name) how much are you going to charge if a company like, say, Gator/Claria/MS, makes an offer you can't refuse for direct access to the iris scan data of each of your vict^H^H^H^Hcustomers? Even if you refuse to sell this, note that they could still get it through the lawsuit, bankruptcy, buyout trick, or even possibly eminent domain in some dark, not-so-distant future, since data can be considered property.
Eventually, a person's iris scan data will be as ubiquitous and purchaseable as any other id number that you can't retract once you give it out for a transaction, if you ever make the mistake of giving it out. The only difference is it will be a bigger number, and one that anyone can grab off of you on the street.
"Hey look!"
You turn your head to look, and to your surprise a stranger takes a picture of your iris at point blank range and then runs off. You think "WTF?" and move along. The next day, all of your money is gone, you are accused of posting libelous stuff, etc.
with all this biometric security and identity theft, i expect to see a lot of ppl looking like pirates. maybe i should start selling eyepatches and hooks. arrrr!
... goin around about iris scanning/authentication? There's so much to respond to, this could almost be a rant, but lets try to stick to facts..
..etc
p g
First off, ISA (iris scanning authentication) is just a piece of the security puzzle. Like any other authentication tool, alone it is insufficient. Swipe cards without keying in a passcode, WPA without MAC filtering,
Usually, there are multiple layers of security, and for the right environment, iris scanning has its benefits.
Second, someone mentioned it is "slow".. having to stand and position for a camera, whereas a swipe card is faster. This is not true of well designed systems. Like any other, if it is designed properly, it works well, and swiftly.
I use iris scanning authentication on a daily basis at home. For many years I've been logging into my systems with an inexpensive Panasonic Authenticam. You can see it on my desk between the monitors here: http://img107.imageshack.us/img107/1332/desk2ss.j
Sure, it's bypassable with a high resolution photo of my face, which might break the camera, but as I mentioned, layers of security.
The real reasons I use it are twofold, A) it saves keystrokes. Blame it on lazyness or carpal tunnel.. but I don't have to type in a username or password each time I sit down at my workstations. and B) Convenience. I can walk into the room, glance at the camera for a moment, and my systems wake up and run their happy little routines. One of which is a voice authentication application that so far hasn't been fooled by any form of recording we've tried.
Just as a note, the iris scanning is not slow at all when performing authentication, and higher end systems are even faster.
Now for the issue of positioning yourself to allow the iris image to be captured... for the newest of the high end systems, it's a non-issue. Technology exists to track and capture an image of the iris as a person is walking across a room. With multiple camera angles down a hallway, one or more layers of security may have already performed authentication. (facial recognition and other biometrics in addition to the iris scanning and perhaps magnetic/rf(id?) id cards sitting in a wallet.
So with these methods, it becomes even less of an effort than swiping a keycard.
Next, the issue of reliability.. since I did mention that the particular low-end iris scanner I use can be defeated by a carefully photographed high reolution image of my face and iris.
High end ISA systems perform more than just an imaging of the eyes. They may also match points on the face, detect body temperature, natural movement and reaction of the eye/iris, detect the blood flowing through the veins in the eye, and many other actions to confirm that the iris being examined is not a fake, or photo.
Now, I know I had some other points to make, but breakfast calls. So I'll leave you with this last one.. before bashing a useful technology with ignorant statements, learn about it. Then at least try bashing it with learned commentary.
And no, I'm not in the iris scanning business at all. I just like how cool it is to look at my "webcam" for a second and then watch all my hardware come to life.
-iNToIT
working from a month ago !
Ceci n'est pas une Signature !
Really?
I swipe my card and the 'gate' opens for me (4 waist high gates to walk through at the front of the building. Uses lasers to 'close' the gate. Swiping your card disabled them for 3 seconds. Walk through without swiping and the alarm goes off.)
The guards see my picture (and anyone going through) on their monitor to compare with my face.
Total time going through the gate: 4 seconds.
How long do you stand in front of the camera for?
Would it work for a building for 5000 employees in it?
You have a sick, twisted mind. Please subscribe me to your newsletter.
Poke your eyes out.
Ooo man the floppy drive is broken. No wait. The computer is just upside down.
I think it's clear that the busines potential of hijacking biometrics -- which are un-protectable and irreplaceable -- makes their compromise pretty inevitable.
Proof positive of this is that you can already buy commercial advertising space in people's fingerprints on eBay.
Any twit can see those aren't irises, they're lupins.
We have a fancy trick where there is no way that you can get someone's iris if you know their account, and there is no way you can get their account if you know their iris. In addition to using open source software, I am considering making all the data we store open to the public as well just for kicks. Personally i don't believe in trust, and especially for a system like this the only way it can work is if it is so good that you don't need to trust the people running it to keep it secure.
All it takes is a couple of wussy secret agencies bombing their own people and crying out a lie, "MOMMMMM! He hit me!" to get a free popsicle and your brother in trouble. --Do that and you get all the ignorant little sheeple lining up to have their eyeballs scanned.
What a stupid, stupid, stupid scenario.
Get the Mossad and American/British secret intelligence to blow up a few busses and trains in London, and suddenly a handful of paranoia companies, (like Carlyle Group, funded with Bush investement, and others like it), are making hundreds of millions of dollars selling their death and paranioa equipment.
Consdier it. .
If YOU were a CEO and you knew that you could turn a 10 million dollar company into a 500 million dollar company overnight with a few homemade bombs, wouldn't you be tempted? Especially when the Mossad says they'll do it for you, because they hate the Arabs so damned much that they'll do anything to justify their endless agressions against them, (using U.S. and British cash, no less?)
--Assuming, of course, you were a raving greed-driven asshole who had learned from such culture-programming television events like, "Survivor", which teaches that psychopathy is not just acceptible behavior to adopt, but desirable.
Competition at all cost! Survival of the fittest! Jocks torture the Geeks! Old rich men get the young blond girls!
Bah.
-FL
it only tells me one thing - she is a virgin.
You can't handle the truth.
You can go here and find something to help you take back control! Hurry, I can see it's not yet too late for you!
I considered it. Much prefer to think about "the cute Iris I knew".
How many beans make five, anyhow ?
Mike
"Not an actor, but he plays one on TV."
Cute. All giggles aside, though, you are typical of the average guy in that you joke without offering any objective reason for why you think my comments aren't valid. --Please consider that a question asked.
Interestingly, nobody who has made the lame tin-foil joke has ever responded with anything even remotely logical or reasonable when I ask them to back up their world view. It's pretty amazing, actually. --I should start saving for later cut & paste sessions some of the weak responses I've gotten. When you start to really examine the pale logic and baseless assumptions used by those who rubber stamp the old Tin Foil Hat joke, it becomes apparent fairly quickly exactly who the clueless ones are.
-FL
First of all let me congratulate you for trying to put a bit more thought into what you are doing, than, say, any major electronic voting machine company did. But, I still think you will be doing your customers a disservice in the long run, whatever benefits they may derive in the short run.
Rant: It doesn't do me any good to tell you to abandon what you're doing, because I know that the only thing that will happen is that a less ethically constrained individual will just take your place, whether at your company or at one of the IP-farms, and then it will be implemented even less competently. I realize this idea simply won't be prevented from happening while there is a mindless sheep herd of IP lawyers who all smell taller grass in another field guiding this ouija-board mental process along.
Even if you have a thousand obscure tricks I still think that people's iris-scan data streams will be intercepted or spoofed and become public information in spite of your best efforts to prevent it.
Once biometric data is public, a biometric measurement is no longer of value as a guarantor of identity because at that point anyone else could be sending it down the wire.
Then, rather than learn their lesson, the IP-lawyer-drones will scurry off and repeat the same mistake on another part of the body, probably the inside of the colon at some point...
The really important patent is
"Biometric Personal Identification System Based on Iris Analysis." U.S. Patent No. 5,291,560 issued March 1, 1994 (J. Daugman).
which describes the first algorithm that really works, and that doesn't expire for nearly six years.
In a just world this would be the highest-scored reply to the article, but the moderation system rewards being early more than any other measure...
Xenu loves you!
great, that keeps stoners off campus computers...
I'm not going to go into details here, but in my particular business all of the things you mention are impossible because of our extremely minimalist design. Rather than aggregating data about you and storing it on a server, we provide a simple but powerful tool to empower users to create their identities. It is all based on 25+ year old tried and true industry standard technology, we are just combining it in new ways to produce different outcomes. What we are doing has been done for many years for businesses, but now we are bringing it to the average consumers for a very modest monthly fee.
Email me if you are curious.
Well, yes, it would have to be. The business as well...
If your end user devices can be proven not to be storing any biometric data at all, and if one could determine from the source code that it isn't sending raw biometrics out, then it stands a better chance. (That brings it up a notch from snowball's chance to sugary-ice-cone chance...)
I still wouldn't use it or feel better protected by it. Rather, I would think that despite all of your assurances that there would be a keylogger type of device in it.
But don't see that as a request to post more details. If you thought I was curious about your specific product or service you were way off. It's like examining a pair of handcuffs to see which ones I'd like to wear.
But don't see that as a request to post more details. If you thought I was curious about your specific product or service you were way off. It's like examining a pair of handcuffs to see which ones I'd like to wear. Amusing. We actually use biometrics as a CAPTCHA to tell that each user as a human and they can have only one account. That way we have no reason to link a user's biomtric data to their account. It is impossible to tell a users biometrics based on their account, and it is impossible to tell a user's account based on their biometrics.