Viisage Technology Presentation
5/3/01
Janice Chen

Viisage Technology
Littleton, Massachusetts
Presenter: President and CEO Thomas J. Colatosti

        Viisage Technology specializes in biometric face recognition and
digital  identification solutions.
At the last Superbowl they placed 36 cameras at entrypoints to try and
match the faces of incoming ticketholders to images of wanted criminals.  The
images were supplied by police departments, the Secret Service, and the FBI.
Security is an important issue at the Superbowl - the NFL is very concerned
about pickpocketing, solicitation, and even the threat of aerial anthrax
attack (a no-fly zone is established over the stadium).  Using the several
thousand images  in the database, Viisage identified 19 matches with people
at the Superbowl.
       Only the matching images are saved; all other images are deleted.
Viisage is a leader in secure ID cards, driver's licenses, welfare cards, and
face-recognition biometric technology.  They have a database of over seven
million images.  Applications of the technology include weapons background
checks and identity theft prevention (by ensuring that there is only one face
per  name); Viisage also maintains a voter database for Uganda, and has
cameras in about 80 casinos.
      Biometrics is a confluence of convenience, privacy, and security needs.
There are different forms of biometrics: fingerprint, voice, hand geometry,
retina/iris, signature, and face.  There are deficits and benefits for each
mode; some are more accurate but also more intrusive; some are not accurate
enough.  Face recognition is probably the most optimal combination of
nonintrusiveness and accuracy.  The face recognition software uses 128 points.
It can go up to 512, but they find that 64 points is 90% effective.  The
standard is 40 pixels between the eyes.  When a new face image is introduced,
the face is normalized and then matched against eigen faces.
    Mr. Colatosti predicts that in the future there will be increasing desires
for improved security, increasing expectations for privacy, and an increasing
desire for convenience.  The result will be more survellance in public places
and more integrity in public places.