IDEMIA
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| Company type | SAS |
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| Industry | Security, Identity management, Criminal justice, Border control, Banking, Telecoms, Explosives and Narcotics detection systems, Access control, Public safety, Smart card |
| Headquarters | Courbevoie, France |
Key people | Yann Delabrière (CEO) |
| Products | Automated Fingerprint Identification Systems, Facial recognition system, Iris recognition, Finger vein recognition, Biometric terminals, e-gates, ID cards, ePassports, SIM cards, Biometric Card Readers Speed cameras, Explosives and Narcotics detection systems |
| Revenue | $3 billion (2018) |
Number of employees | 13,000 (average, 2018) |
| Parent | Advent International  |
| Website | idemia |
IDEMIA, formerly Morpho S.A.S. is a French multinational company specializing in security and identity solutions, including facial recognition systems and other biometric identification services. Part of Safran group until 2017, Morpho merged with Oberthur Technologies and became OT-Morpho on 31 May 2017, then renamed as IDEMIA on September 28th.[1]
Corporate History
Created in 2007, Sagem Sécurité was renamed Morpho in 2010. The name was derived from Morpho Systems S.A., a 1980s fingerprint identification firm [2] that is part of the current Morpho. By 2007, the security business was run by Sagem Défense Sécurité.
Orga Cards Systems
In 2005, Sagem Défense Sécurité acquired ORGA Kartensysteme GmbH. Renamed Sagem Orga, it is today the Business solutions division of Morpho.
GE Homeland Protection
In 2009, Safran acquired 81% of GE Homeland Protection, a wholly owned affiliate of the General Electric Company (NYSE:GE). It is now contained in Morpho's Detection division.
MorphoTrust
On July 26, 2011 Safran completed the acquisition of L-1 Identity Solutions.[3] Today, it is mainly part of MorphoTrust USA Inc. The company itself dates back over 50 years, from the time the first photo was added to a U.S. driver's license.
OT-Morpho
On September 2016, Safran announced that it had entered into exclusive negotiations with Advent International, the owner of Oberthur Technologies since 2011, to sell its identity and security activities and the transaction was finalized on 31 May 2017. Oberthur Technologies (OT) and Safran Identity & Security (Morpho) were joining forces to create OT-Morpho, then renamed as IDEMIA on September 28th.
Morpho today
Today, the Morpho name is only used for its subsidiary in South Africa [4]. Following the merge with Oberthur Technologies, the parent company now operates under the name of IDEMIA.
Since April 2017 Morpho Detection merged with Smiths groups.
Operations in the United States
IDEMIA provides products to various federal and state government entities in the United States.
IDEMIA owns IdentoGO, a company that operates hundreds of storefronts in the United States which offer "state of the art electronic fingerprint capture capabilities as well as other identity-related products and services." IdentoGO is an authorized service provider for the United States federal government, and as such provides identity verification services for multiple Transportation Security Administration programs, including TSA PreCheck and the Transportation Worker Identification Credential.[5]
In Massachusetts, the Registry of Motor Vehicles has been using IDEMIA's face recognition technology to run scans against the database of driver's license photos since 2006.[6]
In Florida, the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office has been using IDEMIA's software in their Face Analysis Comparison & Examination System (FACES) since 2001.[7][8]
Due to a lack of government transparency on the subject, it is difficult to say which other agencies might be using IDEMIA's technology.
Concerns
Various civil rights organizations have criticized the government's contracts with IDEMIA, expressing concerns about sharing sensitive biometric data with a private and unregulated third-party company.[6][9] Researchers have also found that facial verification and identification algorithms, including IDEMIA's algorithm specifically, exhibit systematic racial and gender bias.[10]
References
- ^ "OT–Morpho becomes IDEMIA".
- ^ "Night Stalker Case Demonstrates Effectiveness of Systems : Market Developing for Fingerprint Computers". LA Times.
- ^ Safran completes the acquisition of L-1 Identity Solutions Becomes world leader in biometric identity solutions
- ^ "Morpho in South Africa". Retrieved 2018-11-20.
- ^ "Convenient Locations Nationwide for Identity-Related Solutions". IdentoGO. Retrieved December 20, 2019.
- ^ a b "Major Face Surveillance Company Releases Dystopian Tracking Tool". ACLU of Massachusetts. June 24, 2019.
- ^ "How the Police Use Facial Recognition, and Where It Falls Short". New York Times. January 12, 2020.
- ^ "Florida". The Perpetual Line-Up. Retrieved January 15, 2020.
- ^ "TSA Plans to Use Face Recognition to Track Americans Through Airports". Electronic Frontier Foundation. November 9, 2017. Retrieved December 20, 2019.
- ^ Harwell, Drew (December 19, 2019). "Federal study finds racial bias of many facial-recognition systems". SF Gate. Retrieved December 20, 2019.