Feds approve facial recognition for online parental consent
06 January, 2016
category: Biometrics, Digital ID, Government
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has approved facial recognition as a way for companies to obtain verified parental consent under the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA).
The five-step method was proposed by London-based Riyo Verified. The identity and age verification company creates trust and regulatory compliance online by turning a smartphone or webcam into an ID scanning terminal that matches an ID holder to an identity document in real-time with facial recognition.
Riyo Verified’s method uses a parent’s photo ID, a live picture of the parent’s face, a system match of the pictures via facial recognition, verification by a live agent, then deletion of the identification information within minutes.
“The method of verified parental consent has now been approved by the FTC, and this makes it the only global, scalable, free-to-consumer COPPA solution,” says Tom Strange, CEO of Riyo Verified. “We currently provide the solution on iOS, Android and via the web browser in more than 125 countries.”
Strange says he hopes more companies will serve children with COPPA compliant products as opposed to avoiding the matter by not triggering COPPA. For example, social network Instagram is popular with tweens. It’s supposed to be for ages 13 and up, but users don’t have to prove their age unless someone reports them.
“We are very excited because this truly is a big deal. Big tech companies like Google and Facebook have not been able to serve this demographic in the way they’d like to because of data regulations,” Strange says. “Now, they can make products that use the best of what technology and data can do – that are also personalized to the age, interests and abilities of children.”
