The G2 Weekly Podcast delivers insights into the world of identity and biometrics. Each week, the podcast will cover important developments in the field, making it a valuable resource for professionals in various sectors.

(June 17, 2025 - June 24, 2025)

• Privacy Under Scrutiny: This week saw the UK’s data regulator fine 23andMe for its significant 2023 data breach, highlighting growing regulatory consequences for mishandling biometric and genetic data. The UK also passed its Data (Use and Access) Bill, setting new IDV and privacy governance standards.

• Next-Gen Biometrics Arrive: Get insights into cutting-edge consumer biometrics, including Google’s ultrasonic sensor upgrade for Pixel 10 and Alipay’s introduction of smart glasses with voice authentication. Plus, discover tech upgrades from STMicroelectronics, Unissey, and Neurotechnology.

• Global Digital ID Acceleration: Witness the surge in national digital ID rollouts and infrastructure advancements across Africa and Asia, with nations like Benin, Tonga, and Malawi expanding digital ID using MOSIP and DPI models. Spain’s strategic investment in a cybersecurity and chip center involving identity companies underscores identity's role in sovereign tech strategies.

• Age Verification Takes Center Stage: Learn about the intensifying push for online safety and age verification globally, with new deployments in Australia and the EU, and the momentum behind decentralized identity tools like World App’s ZKP-based solutions for age verification.

• Fortifying Against Fraud with AI: Explore how companies like Jumio, Facia, and Regula are making breakthroughs in deepfake and morph detection capabilities, alongside Microsoft’s push to delete passwords and Facebook’s global passkey deployment to enhance security.

• Identity Market Confidence Surges: Hear about the renewed market confidence in identity convergence, evidenced by Humanity Protocol’s expansion into ticketing post-acquisition and SecureAuth’s gains from continuous ID tech acquisitions.

• Digital Transformation in Travel: Discover how digital transformation is reshaping travel, with Lufthansa’s partnership with HID and BigBear.ai, and the expansion of biometric passport infrastructure in Nepal and Kyrgyzstan. Clear’s new product strategy also signals deeper enterprise biometric deployment.

Don't miss out on these and other essential updates by subscribing to the Identity Insights: The G2 Weekly Podcast. Stay informed about the latest advancements, challenges, and opportunities in identity and biometrics, a critical area for professionals in banking, fintech, insurance, telco, manufacturing, e-commerce, social, and healthcare

Credit and appreciation go to Google's NotebookLM for transforming my identity and biometrics newsletter into an AI-powered audio podcast!

The G2 Weekly Podcast delivers insights into the world of identity and biometrics. Each week, the podcast will cover important developments in the field, making it a valuable resource for professionals in various sectors.

(June 10, 2025 - June 17, 2025)

• Urgent Scrutiny & Evolving Threats: Discover how the 23andMe bankruptcy triggered U.S. congressional alarms over genetic data vulnerabilities, while AI-driven fraud campaigns and "ghost students" stealing college financial aid reveal how identity fraud is dangerously mutating.

• Biometrics & Regulatory Friction: Explore the rising global concern over biometric ethics and digital identity infrastructure, from a €550k fine in Ireland over biometric data compliance to China's Supreme Court cracking down on facial recognition abuse, and intense battles over age assurance legislation in Louisiana.

• Industry Consolidation & Global Adoption: Uncover major M&A trends like Humanity Protocol acquiring Moongate and DNP taking control of Laxton, signaling deepening consolidation in the identity platform space. Witness soaring global investment in airport biometrics, with countries from the Philippines to Brazil pivoting travel infrastructure towards seamless identity-based processing.

• Digital Identity Momentum: Learn how digital identity verification is becoming essential across diverse verticals, including real estate and crypto sectors. Track the progress of digital wallets, mDLs, and decentralized identity initiatives in nations like Namibia, the Maldives, and Russia, even amidst challenges like wallet fragmentation and "app fatigue".

• AI's Double-Edged Sword: Grasp the promise and peril of AI in the identity space, from Microsoft backing Au10tix for AI agents in Copilot to Europol's reports spotlighting the expanding use of generative AI and synthetic data in sophisticated fraud campaigns, and the unsettling rise of deepfakes.

Don't miss out on these and other essential updates by subscribing to the Identity Insights: The G2 Weekly Podcast. Stay informed about the latest advancements, challenges, and opportunities in identity and biometrics, a critical area for professionals in banking, fintech, insurance, telco, manufacturing, e-commerce, social, and healthcare

Credit and appreciation go to Google's NotebookLM for transforming my identity and biometrics newsletter into an AI-powered audio podcast!

The G2 Weekly Podcast delivers insights into the world of identity and biometrics. Each week, the podcast will cover important developments in the field, making it a valuable resource for professionals in various sectors.

(June 3, 2025 - June 10, 2025)

• Discover the struggles of Login.gov in modernizing federal digital identity efforts.

• Explore the landmark biometric privacy case, United States v. Brown, and its constitutional implications.

• Unpack the tensions behind Texas's assertive age verification law and the global policy divides it highlights.

• Learn about the significant "unhappy path" costs highlighted by a Women In Identity study, impacting global businesses due to IDV friction.

• Get the scoop on major funding rounds and strategic acquisitions, including PopID's equity financing and OneSpan's move to accelerate FIDO leadership with the acquisition of Nok Nok Labs. Mid-size players are also exploring acquisition as a growth path.

• Hear about advancements in Travel and Border Control, from TSA's new wearable sensors to Macao enabling iris-based clearance and concerns over Europe's EES deployment delays.

• Stay updated on the latest in Biometrics, including momentum in liveness detection, performance wins by key players, and Amazon's surprising pull-back from voice biometrics.

• Understand the escalating threat of deepfake operations, such as iProov's uncovering of "Grey Nickel," and urgent conversations on trust and AI governance. Paravision's "Deepfake Detection 2.0" is among new strategies emerging.

• See how biometric deployment is on the rise globally, from New Orleans to New Zealand.

• Witness the surge in the age assurance debate, linked to regulations around online content and sales.

• Find out how the ID Proofing, KYC, and FIDO ecosystem is expanding, with new AI-based solutions and a push for passkey adoption.

• Learn about persisting data breach concerns, highlighted by a massive leak of Chinese citizen data and crackdowns on fraud.

• Get insights into the future with mDLs, Digital Wallets, and Decentralized ID, featuring updates on the EUDI Wallet, global digital ID infrastructure pushes, and accelerating decentralized innovation.

• Discover how AI and Quantum Security themes include renewed urgency against AI-driven scams and concerns over AI agents leaking sensitive data.

Don't miss out on these and other essential updates by subscribing to the Identity Insights: The G2 Weekly Podcast. Stay informed about the latest advancements, challenges, and opportunities in identity and biometrics, a critical area for professionals in banking, fintech, insurance, telco, manufacturing, e-commerce, social, and healthcare

Credit and appreciation go to Google's NotebookLM for transforming my identity and biometrics newsletter into an AI-powered audio podcast!

The G2 Weekly Podcast delivers insights into the world of identity and biometrics. Each week, the podcast will cover important developments in the field, making it a valuable resource for professionals in various sectors.

(May 27, 2025 - June 3, 2025)

• Navigating the Regulatory Storm: This week saw escalating tensions between identity innovation and global regulation, highlighted by the intensifying legal battle between Jumio and FaceTec over liveness IP and Texas's bold move on app store age verification, reflecting global momentum toward age assurance.

• AI Agents & Identity: A16Z's provocative article "How Will My Agent Pay for Things?" sparked fresh debate over identity attribution in the age of agentic AI, underscoring the growing need for identity-linked controls in these environments.

• Biometrics Pushing Boundaries: From Aware achieving best-in-class DHS testing results for passive liveness detection to Corsight being the first to complete BSI’s AI facial recognition trustworthiness evaluation and Meta's win in South Korea setting precedent for lawful facial recognition use, we cover the latest advancements shaping biometric technologies.

• The Friction Between Innovation and Civil Liberties: Despite technological progress, public backlash mounted globally against AI-enabled surveillance, age checks, and facial recognition. Legal and ethical concerns surged, from challenges to the legality of facial recognition in the UK and Hungary's plan for LGBTQ+ surveillance to alarms over DNA surveillance of migrant children in the US.

• Rapid Expansion of Digital Identity Infrastructure: The mDL and digital wallet ecosystem expanded rapidly, with national ID rollouts, verifiable credentials, and decentralized wallets gaining traction across Africa, Asia, and LATAM. This includes Spain joining EU’s age assurance pilot, Tonga and Somalia launching new digital ID systems, and Solana integrating verifiable credentials with partners.

• Boosting Trust and Security: Companies in proofing and KYC gained traction with solutions for faster onboarding and fraud mitigation, while 1Kosmos reached FedRAMP High, an industry milestone. Discover new tools for fighting accelerating ID fraud and advancements in securing digital transactions.

• Key Partnerships Shaping the Landscape: This week featured the marquee G+D–Daon strategic partnership, elevating identity security across various industries, and other significant collaborations.

Don't miss out on these and other essential updates by subscribing to the Identity Insights: The G2 Weekly Podcast. Stay informed about the latest advancements, challenges, and opportunities in identity and biometrics, a critical area for professionals in banking, fintech, insurance, telco, manufacturing, e-commerce, social, and healthcare

Credit and appreciation go to Google's NotebookLM for transforming my identity and biometrics newsletter into an AI-powered audio podcast!

The G2 Weekly Podcast delivers insights into the world of identity and biometrics. Each week, the podcast will cover important developments in the field, making it a valuable resource for professionals in various sectors.

(May 20, 2025 - May 27, 2025)

• Explore whether mobile biometric authentication is keeping pace with new AI threat vectors probing vulnerabilities in liveness detection and facial verification.

• Get the latest on governments worldwide pushing new age verification laws across four continents.

• Discover how the pressure is mounting on governments and the private sector to deliver smarter identity systems without undermining privacy or public trust.

• Learn about major funding rounds like World raising $135 million to expand its digital ID platform footprint.

• Hear updates on border control developments, including new biometric passports and the EU's biometric matching service, alongside continued border checks and policy debates.

• Understand key movements in the biometrics sector, from DHS sensor studies and the need to build public trust to backlash over police use of live facial recognition.

• Find out about significant government contracts like Leidos securing $130M to support the FBI's CJIS biometric services.

• Insights into identity proofing and verification advancements, including Login.gov's remote proofing push after hacks and U.S. Bank digitizing investor onboarding.

• Updates from countries like Ghana, Nigeria, and Kenya on national ID monetization strategies and mass card issuance efforts.

• Highlights from ID4Africa 2025, focusing on digital ID standards, procurement, and initiatives like Ethiopia's FaydaPass, Rwanda's $8.5M rollout, and Kenya's Maisha Namba integration.

• Discussions around digital wallets, verifiable credentials, and proof-of-personhood, including strategic feedback on the EU Business Wallet and geopolitics of ID frameworks.

• Insight into industry leadership shifts and significant new partnerships emphasizing privacy-first innovation like Trust Stamp integrating MPC for biometric privacy.

• Crucial updates on the AI & quantum landscape, including deepfake escalation tactics identified by Au10tix and warnings about unchecked AI adoption risks.

• Understand why identity must become a zero-trust baseline as AI agents spread across verticals.

Don't miss out on these and other essential updates by subscribing to the Identity Insights: The G2 Weekly Podcast. Stay informed about the latest advancements, challenges, and opportunities in identity and biometrics, a critical area for professionals in banking, fintech, insurance, telco, manufacturing, e-commerce, social, and healthcare

Credit and appreciation go to Google's NotebookLM for transforming my identity and biometrics newsletter into an AI-powered audio podcast!

The G2 Weekly Podcast delivers insights into the world of identity and biometrics. Each week, the podcast will cover important developments in the field, making it a valuable resource for professionals in various sectors.

(May 13, 2025 - May 20, 2025)

• AI, Biometrics, & Identity: A Rapidly Evolving Landscape - Discover why the interplay between identity, biometrics, and AI regulation is changing faster than governments and vendors can keep up.

• Ethical Frontiers Tested by New Tools - Learn about tools like FaceAge, which not only estimates age but assesses survival odds from facial features, raising urgent questions about ethics in biometric scoring.

• Unregulated Surveillance Concerns - Understand how U.S. police agencies are reportedly using AI to track people based on non-biometric traits, escalating fears over unregulated surveillance.

• Litigation vs. Innovation - See how ongoing legal battles (like Illinois' biometric privacy lawsuits) and breakthrough tech (deepfake detection in cochlear implants) are testing the boundaries of biometric governance.

• Seamless Travel & Growing Threats - Get insights into the global expansion of seamless travel with biometrics, alongside the emerging threat vector of fraud in loyalty programs.

• Biometrics Go Global and Diverse - From Germany's biometric kiosks for ID to the U.S. Air Force's biometric kit contracts and Tencent exploring palm payments in Thailand, see the breadth of biometrics use cases.

• The Privacy Challenge Returns - Hear about alarming gains in face reconstruction from biometric templates, renewing critical calls for privacy-preserving biometric storage.

• Age Assurance Takes Center Stage - Learn why age assurance is a heated policy debate across the EU, UK, U.S., and Kenya, with new regulations and proposed laws emerging.

• Fighting Fraud in a Digital World - Explore the focus on faster identity proofing and the battle against fraud-as-a-service syndicates, highlighted by warnings about porous federal defenses.

• Digital Wallets: Friction Meets Growth - Navigate the mixed landscape of digital wallets and verifiable credentials, noting criticisms like EUDI Wallet data oversharing alongside milestones like Verifiable Credentials becoming a W3C standard.

• Global South on the Rise - See how countries like Papua New Guinea, Madagascar, Pakistan, and Uganda are advancing national and digital ID projects, and the push for the Global South to have a stronger voice in digital policy.

• Deepfake Threats Require Urgent Action - Understand warnings from the FTC about dangerously underdeveloped deepfake takedown infrastructure and efforts to bring media forensics tools to market.

• Innovation vs. Oversight: The Core Tension - Grasp the central theme: as the identity and biometrics industry moves fast, driven by innovation, risks are also evolving rapidly, creating a persistent tension with the need for oversight and regulation.

Don't miss out on these and other essential updates by subscribing to the Identity Insights: The G2 Weekly Podcast. Stay informed about the latest advancements, challenges, and opportunities in identity and biometrics, a critical area for professionals in banking, fintech, insurance, telco, manufacturing, e-commerce, social, and healthcare

Credit and appreciation go to Google's NotebookLM for transforming my identity and biometrics newsletter into an AI-powered audio podcast!

The G2 Weekly Podcast delivers insights into the world of identity and biometrics. Each week, the podcast will cover important developments in the field, making it a valuable resource for professionals in various sectors.

• Age verification is no longer just about protecting minors; it's become a legislative battleground and a global litmus test for the balance between privacy and technology, sparking clashes over surveillance creep and platform liability.

• The pendulum is swinging on biometric privacy and regulation, transforming from a legal risk into a critical trust differentiator for companies, evidenced by major settlements and growing use restrictions worldwide.

• Step into the deepfake detection and synthetic fraud arms race, where generative AI is fundamentally reshaping the fraud landscape and putting biometrics on the front line as vendors develop layered, adaptive defenses.

• Global digital ID and wallet deployments are scaling fast and entering the mainstream, representing a significant shift from physical credentials to programmable identity and making wallet design a geopolitically charged topic.

• Identity defense is evolving into an AI vs. AI machine-learning battleground, compelling vendors and institutions to move towards intelligence-based identity systems to match the speed and scale of synthetic attackers.

• Digital identity is increasingly a matter of surveillance, national sovereignty, and political power, raising complex questions about who controls verification and the potential for digital colonialism.

Don't miss out on these and other essential updates by subscribing to the Identity Insights: The G2 Weekly Podcast. Stay informed about the latest advancements, challenges, and opportunities in identity and biometrics, a critical area for professionals in banking, fintech, insurance, telco, manufacturing, e-commerce, social, and healthcare

Credit and appreciation go to Google's NotebookLM for transforming my identity and biometrics newsletter into an AI-powered audio podcast!

The G2 Weekly Podcast delivers insights into the world of identity and biometrics. Each week, the podcast will cover important developments in the field, making it a valuable resource for professionals in various sectors.

(May 6, 2025 - May 13, 2025)

• Regulation Takes Center Stage: Discover how state regulators are gaining power, highlighted by a record-breaking privacy settlement, while EU member states push for privacy-preserving age assurance and jurisdictions debate biometric surveillance use.

• The AI vs. Biometrics Arms Race: Explore the intensifying conflict where AI fuels sophisticated fraud, particularly in payments, forcing vendors into a critical "arms race" that necessitates layered biometrics as a frontline defense against threats like deepfakes.

• Biometrics Expand Across Sectors: Learn how biometrics are being deployed from airport self-service and border control wins to Pentagon defense infrastructure and innovative applications like DNA-based 3D facial reconstruction, even as programs like TSA facial recognition face political resistance.

• Global Momentum for Digital ID and Wallets: Witness the worldwide surge in countries launching national digital IDs and wallets, highlighting both centralized and decentralized approaches, alongside debates around standardization and the competitive "wallet wars".

• Industry Adapts to a Regulated Future: See how companies are navigating this evolving landscape by achieving key compliance milestones like iBeta Level 2 for liveness detection, securing strategic funding, and forming partnerships to address the growing demand for secure and compliant identity solutions.

Don't miss out on these and other essential updates by subscribing to the Identity Insights: The G2 Weekly Podcast. Stay informed about the latest advancements, challenges, and opportunities in identity and biometrics, a critical area for professionals in banking, fintech, insurance, telco, manufacturing, e-commerce, social, and healthcare

Credit and appreciation go to Google's NotebookLM for transforming my identity and biometrics newsletter into an AI-powered audio podcast!

The G2 Weekly Podcast delivers insights into the world of identity and biometrics. Each week, the podcast will cover important developments in the field, making it a valuable resource for professionals in various sectors.

(April 29, 2025 - May 6, 2025)

• Identity Under Pressure: Discover how the identity, biometrics, and digital trust sectors are navigating growing tension between innovation, ethics, and geopolitical forces this week, from age assurance debates involving tech giants and regulators to increasing concerns over public-private surveillance at scale.

• Funding & Scrutiny Intensify: Get the lowdown on selective but significant investments like Persona reaching a $2 billion valuation, balanced against increasing investor scrutiny on financial performance and regulatory compliance in the biometrics space, highlighted by Idex Biometrics' financials and scrutiny over Clear's valuation.

• Global Digital Identity Accelerates: Explore the worldwide push for digital ID with new biometric rollouts streamlining travel and borders in places like Alaska and Abu Dhabi, significant progress in national digital identity programs across multiple continents, and accelerated adoption of secure authentication like Microsoft's 1M daily passkey registrations.

• Biometrics in the Spotlight: From 8 in 10 UK citizens supporting biometrics for national security to facial recognition use in stadiums and rights-based pushback in Paraguay and Hungary, see how biometrics is shaping public life alongside ethical concerns, including lawsuits over alleged surveillance roles.

• The AI Frontier: Deepfakes & Discretion: Understand the escalating threat of deepfakes evolving to evade detection and the critical debate around AI policing systems and regulatory inconsistency, highlighting the ongoing challenge of ensuring explainable, fair, and rights-based AI in identity.

Don't miss out on these and other essential updates by subscribing to the Identity Insights: The G2 Weekly Podcast. Stay informed about the latest advancements, challenges, and opportunities in identity and biometrics, a critical area for professionals in banking, fintech, insurance, telco, manufacturing, e-commerce, social, and healthcare

Credit and appreciation go to Google's NotebookLM for transforming my identity and biometrics newsletter into an AI-powered audio podcast!

The G2 Weekly Podcast delivers insights into the world of identity and biometrics. Each week, the podcast will cover important developments in the field, making it a valuable resource for professionals in various sectors.

(April 22, 2025 - April 29, 2025)

• Age Assurance Becomes a Key 'Digital ID Battleground': Driven by rising deepfake threats and urgent calls for online child safety, global regulators and tech companies are rapidly implementing and refining age assurance measures. This push includes new UK regulations, warnings about data over-collection, and innovative systems like Missouri's two-tiered age gate.

• Biometric Deployments Accelerate Amid Privacy Debates: The biometrics sector is vibrant with new partnerships, government eID rollouts (like in Cambodia and Guyana), and expanding commercial use in areas like stadium access. However, intense debates continue in several countries regarding the ethics, regulation, and privacy implications of biometric surveillance, particularly concerning police use.

• Digital Identity and Wallets See Global Advancement: Nations are moving forward with national digital ID systems, digital vehicle registration pilots, and leveraging digital public infrastructure (DPI) like MOSIP and OpenG2P to improve access to government services and financial inclusion. Meanwhile, there are growing calls for Africa to build tech sovereignty in its digital transformation efforts.

• The Identity Security 'Arms Race' Intensifies: With surging demand for secure authentication and rising enterprise identity breaches, innovation in identity verification (IDV), KYC/KYB, and FIDO-based solutions is pushing forward. New tools and partnerships are emerging to bolster fraud defenses, while telco data breaches highlight ongoing threats.

• AI's Dual Role in Identity Security Sparks Scrutiny: AI is critical for developing defenses against deepfakes and injection attacks, identified as a 'rising priority'. Yet, concerns are mounting over AI surveillance, potential biometric failures leading to court victories, a general lack of public trust, and the urgent need for rights-based governance.

Don't miss out on these and other essential updates by subscribing to the Identity Insights: The G2 Weekly Podcast. Stay informed about the latest advancements, challenges, and opportunities in identity and biometrics, a critical area for professionals in banking, fintech, insurance, telco, manufacturing, e-commerce, social, and healthcare

Credit and appreciation go to Google's NotebookLM for transforming my identity and biometrics newsletter into an AI-powered audio podcast!