New York has this week launched the country's largest municipal card programme, with facial recognition and other technology set to be used to identify cardholders for the multiple services it will cover.Crucially, the card represents the prospect of financial and social inclusion for undocumented immigrants, raising questions over what breeder documents will be used to validate identities.The card can be used for discounts for prescription drugs, access to city buildings, free memberships to zoos and museums – and recognized as identification to open an account at several banks and credit unions, said the New York Times.”For New Yorkers who couldn't have an official ID., this card is the key to a fuller life,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said in a statement, adding that it was “fraud-proof, secure and appealing to anyone.”In December, Planet Biometrics reported that New York City officials had confirmed that facial recognition software was needed for the card to prevent identity fraud.In an executive order issued 1 December, the city's human resources administration states that the use of duplicate image, facial recognition software for the IDNYC project will be to the benefit of all New Yorkers.The body notes that the biometric data will only be checked against the IDNYC's own database, and that investigators who have been specially trained will be tasked with verifying the identities.”The photo template database shall be separately maintained and not integrated with any other maintained by the City, state or federal authorities.”The card also has security features including a city seal and black-and-white “ghost” photo on the card for added fraud prevention, and an embedded hologram.Valid for five years, the cards will be offered for free to anyone over 14 in 2015.
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