Abstract
Biometric technology is driving global efforts to develop Covid-19 ‘immunity passports’ that could enable people to prove they have recovered from the virus, escape lockdown and so help national economies restart after the pandemic.
In the US, biometric identity specialist CLEAR last month launched a ‘Health Pass by CLEAR’ system, which enables businesses to screen their employees and customers for the coronavirus. The system allows enrolled users to identify themselves via a phone selfie, but tied to their health profile – meaning individuals can be health-checked before being allowed to enter their workplace, or shops, restaurants and sports venues. CLEAR said that in future the Health Pass could build in factors like coronavirus test results and vaccine status – potentially providing the user with a Covid-19 ‘immunity passport’.
Users will be able to download the CLEAR app on their smartphones and enrol in the service for free by verifying their identity using facial recognition. To enter a business or venue that employs Health Pass, users will snap a selfie to authenticate their identity and take a health quiz on possible Covid-19 symptoms. The company says that it plans for users to be able to link Covid-19 test results with their digital identity in the future.
In the UK, biometrics vendor iProov has launched a facial recognition front-end for a core National Health Service (NHS) app which allows citizens to order prescriptions, book appointments and access medical data online. And iProov founder Andrew Bud told the BBC this system could potentially be used as the basis for Covid-19 immunity tests, opening a route to immunity passports.
He said: “NHS Digital has built a strong and trusted identity system in NHS login, which, in my opinion, should form the basis of the UK's immunity passport. Whether they do so is a decision for them.” NHS Digital said it is not currently applying the technology to any other purposes beyond secure login.
The NHS app now uses iProov's Flashmark facial verification system in England to allow Android and iOS device users to submit their selfie, then log into the app via their phone and access all the services. More than 1 million UK citizens have registered with NHS login, with a peak of over 60,000 new IDs verified during the first week of April.
Immunity passports would work by securely linking a person's identity to their coronavirus test results. Estonia has begun testing an immunity passport, based on technology developed by Transferwise. And the Financial Times has reported that a number of European start-up tech companies are racing to develop Covid-19 passports.
They include Onfido, which recently raised $100 million extra financing (see BTT, May issue). Onfido CEO Husayn Kassai told the FT that his company is actively considering how to adapt its existing anti-fraud systems for immunity passports. Onfido uses AI facial recognition systems to authenticate photo IDs and other identity documents. The FT also identified other UK biometric tech vendors such as VST Enterprises and Centre Pass Enterprises as active in this area.
But the use of biometric authentication to counter Covid-19 long-term has raised fears over privacy and security.
CLEAR's Health Pass has come under fire from two US lawmakers, Senators Jeff Merkley and Cory Booker, who have called on the company to detail what privacy and security steps it is taking to protect the data. In an open letter to CLEAR CEO Caryn Seidman Becker, the Senators acknowledged CLEAR's “potential benefits” but warned of the risk of “undetectable, constant government surveillance” from over or misused facial recognition technology. They cited the recent hack of US-based Clearview AI, which offers a database of over 3 billion faces to police forces worldwide (see BTT, March issue).
In Europe, a coalition of 44 privacy campaign groups, the European Digital Rights (EDRi) alliance, last month called on all EU countries to ban biometric mass surveillance – and specifically warned against introducing health surveillance systems under the guise of combatting Covid-19.
EDRi said: “There is a real risk the damage caused by widening surveillance measures will last long after the pandemic is over. For example, will employers remove the cameras doing temperature checks in offices after the pandemic?” Lotte Houwing, policy advisor at EDRi member Bits of Freedom, added: “It is of utmost importance that we do not let the Covid-19 crisis scare us into a mass surveillance state. Surveillance is not a medicine.”
Addressing immunity passports specifically, Dr Tom Fisher, a senior researcher at campaign group Privacy International, told the BBC that the introduction of any such measures needed to be “necessary, proportionate and based on the epidemiological evidence. For the moment, immunity passports do not meet this test.”
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The Biometrics Institute has spotlighted the efforts of 19 leading biometric tech suppliers who have pioneered solutions and ideas to help counter Covid-19. Their products range from secure election e-voting and user verification in healthcare to contactless payments and remote onboarding, evaluating air traveller temperatures and retrofitting fingerprint readers with disinfecting technology. They also feature technology to reduce virus spread in offices, hospitals, airports and secure locations which rely on fingerprint readers, card access or manual processes. “Our community has proved themselves to be agile and versatile in coming up with answers to the new questions the world is being asked,” said Institute chief executive Isabelle Moeller.
The 19 vendors are Auraya, Biometix, FaceTec, G+D Mobile Security, ID R&D, Ideco, IDEMIA France, IDEMIA US, InnoValor, Innovatrics, JENETRIC, Peoplekey, Phonexia, Regula Baltija, TECH5, Trust Stamp, Unisys, Vision-Box and WorldReach.