IDEMIA

IDEMIA (formerly known as OT-Morpho) is a French multinational technology company headquartered in Courbevoie, France. It provides identity-related security services, and sells facial recognition and other biometric identification products and software to private companies and governments.[1]

Corporate history

Morpho

Morpho Systèmes was created in 1982, then absorbed by Sagem in 1993. In 2005, when Safran was created, Sagem became Sagem Défense Sécurité and in 2007, a separate company, Sagem Sécurité was created. It was renamed Morpho in 2010 (the name was derived from Morpho Systems S.A., a 1980s fingerprint identification firm[2]), then Safran Identity & Security in 2016.

Areas of expertise

Identification

This represents the company's historical core business. It develops the latest technologies in the field of biometrics.[9]

The facial recognition technologies proposed by IDEMIA allow for smooth passage through the airport or stadium entrances and are also used to spot people banned from the stadium, identify fugitives in crowds or check the identity of people entering reserved areas. The company has many references in the police field or in the civil field: United States, United Arab Emirates, Albania, or India with the Aadhaar project whose objective is to provide a unique 12-digit number to each Indian citizen after enrolment of their biometric data (iris, fingerprints, portrait for 1.3 billion people) allowing these citizens to open a bank account, access microcredit or receive social benefits.

IDEMIA produced 3 billion identity documents (passports, identity cards, driving licences, etc.) worldwide in 2020.[10]

On the market of states and government services, IDEMIA participates in particular in the efforts of the United Nations Organisation to give everyone an identity by 2030[11] (in Africa or India, more than 1.1 billion people still do not have a legal existence).[12]

Border Management

Morpho was a specialist in airport border solutions, these solutions are now carried by IDEMIA. Based on biometrics (fingerprints, facial recognition or iris recognition), the company offers semi-automated or automated solutions that enable a person's biometrics to be associated with that of his or her identity document, such as the ID2Travel solution.

Singapore's Changi Airport has implemented biometric services provided by IDEMIA to identify and authenticate travelers as they pass through Terminals 3 and 4 of the airport. In Singapore, these services also equip Seletar airport and are also being adapted for other markets in the Asia-Pacific region.

Banking

IDEMIA develops solutions to improve the payment card. Thus the company carries out research such as the implementation of fingerprint recognition in the 0.8 millimeter thickness of a card or the dynamic change the visual cryptogram.[13] In addition, the company is able to manufacture custom cards in small series adapted to each of its customers, including cards made with recycled plastic.[14]

Controversies

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.[18][20] Researchers have also found that facial verification and identification algorithms, including IDEMIA's algorithm specifically, exhibit systematic racial and gender bias.[21] However, in April 2020 the NIST[22] (National Institute of Standards and Technology), now part of the U.S. Department of Commerce, that provides technology, measurement, and standards that impact a wide range of products and technology, ranked IDEMIA 1st for iris recognition underlining its algorithms performance and accuracy.

Bribery in Nigeria

In 2012, Safran (Sagem) was fined €500,000 by a French court for bribing public officials in Nigeria to win a €170 million contract in 2000/03 to produce identity cards.[23][24]

Hiding Russian government-affiliated code from the FBI

In 2017, Morpho drew controversy for incorporating code from a Russian government-affiliated firm in fingerprint-analysis software and hiding it from the Federal Bureau of Investigation. A whistleblower lawsuit was filed in U.S. federal court over the incident.[25][26]

Contributions to state repression in Egypt

In 2018, a group of international, French, and Egyptian non-governmental organizations accused IDEMIA of profiting from Egypt's military crackdowns on dissent and providing surveillance technology to Egypt's authoritarian government under Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.[27]

Facilitating abuse of refugees and migrants

In 2022, IDEMIA, alongside Thales Group, was accused of facilitating human rights abuses of refugees and migrants through their supply of border surveillance solutions.[28]

Nepal passports

IDEMIA was allegedly favoured in the Nepalese passport procurement process.[29]

South Africa contract

IDEMIA and the government of South Africa have been part of a controversy, with how IDEMIA was awarded a contract for biometric surviellance technology at airports.[30][31]

type	SAS
key people	Pierre Barrial (CEO)
industry	Security, Identity management, Criminal justice, Border control, Banking, Telecoms, Access control, Public safety, Smart card
products	Automated Fingerprint Identification Systems, Facial recognition system, Iris recognition, Finger vein recognition, Biometric terminals, e-gates, ID cards, ePassports, payment card, SIM cards, Biometric Card Readers Speed cameras
revenue	€2,9 billion (2023)
num employees	15,000
location	Courbevoie, Île-de-France, France
homepage	idemia.com

Corporate history

Morpho

Oberthur Technologies

IDEMIA (2017–present)

Areas of expertise

Identification

Border Management

Banking

Operations in the United States

Controversies

Bribery in Nigeria

Hiding Russian government-affiliated code from the FBI

Contributions to state repression in Egypt

Facilitating abuse of refugees and migrants

Nepal passports

South Africa contract

External links

References

Corporate history

Morpho

Oberthur Technologies

IDEMIA (2017–present)

Areas of expertise

Identification

Border Management

Banking

Operations in the United States

Controversies

Sharing sensitive biometric data

Bribery in Nigeria

Hiding Russian government-affiliated code from the FBI

Contributions to state repression in Egypt

Facilitating abuse of refugees and migrants

Nepal passports

South Africa contract

External links

References