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Holes in the wall to see PINs in our eyes

Monday, September 3rd, 2007

Daily Mail

Bank customers could soon enter their PIN codes at cash machines just by looking at the numbers in the right order.

The system is designed to beat fraudsters looking over your shoulder to see which keys you press.

The technology, called EyePassword, is being developed in America - and High Street banks in Britain are already interested in using it.

It works by shining an infrared light on your eye. This stays in the same spot on your eye no matter where you look.

As you gaze at the cash dispenser key pad, your pupil moves. When your eye comes to rest on a number, a camera compares the position of your pupil with the fixed light in your eye.

The system is then able to work out which direction your pupil has moved in and how far and, therefore, which number you are looking at.

EyePassword has a three per cent error rate and it can take six times longer to enter your pin.

But Lloyds, Barclays and Royal Bank of Scotland have expressed an interest in the technology.

However, its inventor, Manu Kumar, of California’s Stanford University, warned: “There are lots of issues to be resolved, probably the biggest one being cost.”

Computer security specialist Dr Jeff Yan, of Newcastle University, said cash dispensers using EyePassword could cost £5,000, £3,000 more than a conventional ATM.

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Lie detectors target benefit claim cheats

Sunday, September 2nd, 2007

The Observer

Benefit claimants and job seekers could be forced to take lie detector tests as early as next year after an early review of a pilot scheme exposed 126 benefit cheats in just three months, saving one local authority £110,000.
Last May, the Department for Work and Pensions asked Harrow council in London to undertake a year-long, £63,000 pilot of the ground-breaking Voice Risk Analysis (VRA) technology.

‘We will wait until the end of the formal evaluation period to make a final decision about rolling the technology out across the country but this early review by the council is very positive,’ said a spokesman for the DWP.

Article continues

‘If our own review comes to similar conclusions to Harrow’s, we would like to see this technology rolled out across Britain as soon as possible.’
VRA technology works by measuring slight, inaudible fluctuations in the human voice known as ‘micro-tremors’ that indicate when a speaker delivers words under stress, and when those moments of stress are generated by an attempt to deceive. Voice patterns are analysed and displayed on a computer.

Normal speech ranges in frequency from 8 to 12 hertz. When they are being honest, the average sound is below 10 hertz. When they lie, the stress causes the frequency to rise to above 10 hertz.

‘This technology is successfully used in the insurance industry and analyses changes in a caller’s voice, giving an indication of the level of risk that they are lying,’ said Richard Sheridan from Capita Group which owns the technology and is helping implementation for Harrow council. ‘These changes are measured against the caller’s “normal” voice which is recorded at the beginning of the phone call, ensuring that nervousness or shyness is not a trigger. If the technology flags up a caller as being suspicious, they will be asked to provide extra evidence to support their claim.’

The technology is being tested on people claiming housing or council tax benefit but will be extended at Harrow Jobcentre for other benefits this year. The government claims the technology also improves services.

‘Operators trained in intelligent questioning and behavioural analysis will use the system to identify suspect cases at the start of the claim process, enabling low-risk claimants to be fast-tracked,’ said a DWP spokesman.

Over the past two years the procedure for claiming benefits has been reformed. The claim often begins with a telephone interview, after which people may need to provide evidence and sign forms.

Brendan Barber, general secretary of the TUC, said the system ‘adds to the demonisation of claimants’.

‘Whatever their views on welfare policy, anyone who cares about science and reason should also be alarmed: lie detectors do not work, they are as likely to finger the innocent but nervous as the genuinely guilty,’ he said. ‘Innocent people will account for a majority of those whose claims are delayed while they provide extra evidence.’

Experts in America, where the most comprehensive scrutiny of the technology has taken place, warn that the technology is far from failsafe.

David Ashe, chief deputy of the Virginia Board for Professional and Occupational Regulation, said, ‘The experience of being tested, or of claiming a benefit and being told that your voice is being checked for lies, is inherently stressful.

‘Lie detector tests have a tendency to pass people for whom deception is a way of life and fail those who are scrupulously honest.’

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Ex-Reagan official Stockman charged with fraud

Tuesday, March 27th, 2007

David Stockman, a former top budget official in the Reagan White House, was charged Monday with overseeing a sweeping fraud at troubled a auto parts supplier he headed before it collapsed into bankruptcy.
Stockman was the former chairman and CEO of Collins & Aikman (CKCRQ), which makes auto parts.

Stockman, 60, was one of four former Collins & Aikman executives named in the indictment unsealed Monday in U.S. District Court in Manhattan. Four other former company employees including a former treasurer have already pleaded guilty in the case, prosecutors said.

The company, based in Southfield, Mich., cooperated in the investigation and was rewarded with a non-prosecution agreement calling for it to continue to help the government, prosecutors said.

The indictment charged Stockman and three others with conspiracy to commit securities fraud, making false statements in annual and quarterly reports, making false entries in books and records, and lying to auditors as well as committing bank fraud, wire fraud and obstruction of an agency proceeding.

The others charged in the indictment were J. Michael Stepp, 62, of Charlotte; David Cosgrove, 48, of Rochester, Mich.; and Paul Barnaba, 37, of Orion, Mich. All three pleaded not guilty and were released on $500,000 bail. They did not immediately comment.

Four others faced charges related to the scandal in separate court papers and had pleaded guilty, prosecutors said.

At a news conference, U.S. Attorney Michael Garcia said Stockman and his co-defendants “resorted to lies, tricks and fraud” to hide the truth about his failing company from investors and creditors.

For Stockman, his personal investments were at risk, Garcia said. “His reputation was on the line as well,” he added.

After he was freed on $1 million bail, Stockman walked out of the courthouse smiling.

“I have done absolutely nothing wrong, except to help save this company from a very dire circumstance,” he told reporters. “All of my actions were motivated by an effort to save the company.”

He said he had personally lost $13 million in the company’s collapse and a business he owned lost $360 million as he tried to rescue the company from a “brutal financial squeeze” by the three big domestic automakers.

“This wasn’t any kind of a joy ride,” he said of his efforts to save Collins & Aikman, which included moving into a motel next to headquarters, working long hours without pay and spending millions of dollars of his own money on company expenses. “This was a disaster.”

He added: “I didn’t line my pockets in any way.”

Stockman’s attorney, Elkan Abramowitz, said the evidence would show there was no looting or phony transactions, only disputes over accounting transactions. “We think this is not a crime,” Abramowitz said.

The indictment said the crimes occurred when Stockman served on the board of directors of Collins & Aikman from 2000 through May 2005. He was chairman of the board from August 2003 to May 2005. Stepp was vice chairman of the board of directors. Cosgrove and Barnaba also were employed by C&A.

According to court papers, Stockman responded to a financial crisis at the company in 2005 by directing it to delay paying its bills as long as possible.

Meanwhile, Stockman allowed the company’s employees to mislead creditors about the company’s revenue and the ability of Collins & Aikman to pay its bills, prosecutors said.

The government said Stockman personally decided which of the company’s suppliers and creditors would get paid and personally managed all of C&A’s liquidity during the crisis.

The indictment also accused Stockman of misleading investors, saying he wanted to hide his own and other senior management’s involvement in a fraudulent scheme to skew the company’s accounting to hide its troubles.

Separately, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission brought civil charges against Stockman and other individuals, as well as against the company.

If convicted, the defendants could face up to 30 years in prison on the most serious charge.

Stockman was Reagan’s budget director from 1981 to 1985. He created a storm early in his tenure when he told an interviewer that he thought Reaganomics were a “Trojan horse” for the rich, and predicted huge budget deficits. He said later he was summoned to the White House “woodshed” for his comments.

Stockman apologized and kept his job until 1985, when he resigned and wrote a book of scathing criticism of Reagan and his top aides.

Stockman became a private equity investor after leaving government. He joined Collins & Aikman in 2002, soon after Heartland Industrial Partners, a buyout fund that he co-founded in 1999, bought a controlling stake in the company. Stockman and Heartland lost hundreds of millions of dollars when Collins & Aikman sought bankruptcy protection.

Stockman left the company five days before it filed for bankruptcy in 2005. Collins is now reorganizing and has put most of its assets up for sale.

The company was one of the world’s largest auto parts suppliers. Its products included interiors, carpets, acoustics, fabrics and convertible tops.

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This entry was posted on Monday, September 3rd, 2007 at 12:47 am and is filed under Science & Technology News, Surveillance, Civil Liberties & Human Rights News . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.