Biometric identity verification gets caught up in great expectations and politics

The next generation of biometric identity verification collides with the politics of digital identity in the most-read articles of the week on Biometric Update. More evidence rolls in that remote ID verification will mostly be carried out with digital wallets, but it will also be expected to do different things, like work smoothly across borders, and more debatably, keep illegal immigrants out.

Top biometrics news of the week

The EU has outlined a plan for its Digital Identity Wallets to be recognized and accepted by relying parties not only throughout the bloc but beyond it, internationally. The plan aligns with others to promote continental tech sovereignty, but the EU is working with partner nations from all around the world to carry it out.

A subgroup of the UK’s ruling Labour Party is proposing mandatory ID cards for everyone, but in the form of a digital credential called the BritCard, which would be stored in a digital wallet like the one made by Gov.uk and eventually be merged with your driver’s license. This would help crack down on illegal migration by enabling easier identity verification for right-to-rent and right-to-work checks, the theory goes.

In the U.S., a Presidential decree is reversing a federal government policy and withdrawing support for digital identity acceptance and mDLs, with the aim of strengthening cybersecurity and heading off a forecasted wave of ID fraud by illegal immigrants.

Curtailing fraud means adopting proactive and adaptive defenses, suggests a BioCatch report. New capabilities from Feedzai, Facephi, Seon and Sumsub add quality data signals, behavioral biometrics, real-time monitoring and an AI assistant, respectively, to the cause.

If proving you are real online is your greater concern, and you are in either the U.S. or the UK, you can now register get a World ID by deduplicating your iris biometrics at an orb.

Sri Lanka is navigating an arrangement with India, with the latter issuing an RFP for an integrator it will pay, from its own country, for the former’s MOSIP-based digital identity system. Bids are expected to open within weeks, and a digital ID sandbox to open later in 2025.

Apple announced expanded support for digital credentials in its iOS 26 Apple Wallets at its WWDC25 this week. The tech giant unveiled its cross-platform vision for online and in-person identity verification with mDocs and passing TSA checkpoints with digital passports.

Our coverage of the 2025 ID4Africa AGM continued with an interview with CMU Research Engineer Andrew Musoke about the African Digital Identity Hackathon organized by the Upanzi Network, and examinations of birth registration and national ID efforts in São Tomé and Principe, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, and Zambia.

The Biometric Update Podcast this week features a conversation with 1Password CEO Jeff Shiner, on the opportunities and risks of agentic AI – and a peek into how 1Password works with Formula 1 Racing on data security.

In features this week Corsight CEO Shai Toren with President and CSO Rob Watts explained how to protect public spaces without violating the privacy of the people who visit them, and Ofer Friedman, Chief Business Development Officer for Au10tix, discussed agentic AI, the company’s partnership with Microsoft, and diversification of identity data.

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Article Topics

biometric authentication  |  biometrics  |  digital identity  |  digital wallets  |  identity verification  |  week in review