Biometric Security and Privacy Using Smart Identity Management and Interoperability: Validation and Vulnerabilities of Various Techniques

The central position of this article is that validation and interoperability are paramount for the effective and ethical use of biometrics. Illuminating the relevance for policymakers of the science underlying the security and privacy aspects of biometrics, this article calls for adequate and enforceable performance metrics that can be independently corroborated. Accordingly, the article considers biometrics and forensics for the dual challenges of addressing security and privacy using smart identity management. The discussion revolves around the concepts of “personally identifiable information” (PII) and interoperability with emphasis on quantitative performance analysis and validation for uncontrolled operational settings, variable demographics, and distributed and federated operations. Validation metrics includes expected rates of identification/misidentification, precision, and recall. The complementary concepts of identity and anonymity are addressed in terms of expected performance, functionality, law and ethics, forensics, and statistical learning. Biometrics encompasses appearance, behavior, and cognitive state or intent. Modes of deployment and performance evaluation for biometrics are detailed, with operational and adversarial challenges for both security and privacy described in terms of trustworthiness, vulnerabilities, functional creep, and feasibility of safeguards. The article underscores how lack of interoperability is mostly due to overfitting and tuning to well‐controlled settings, so that validation merely confirms “teaching to the test” rather than preparation for real‐world deployment. Most important for validation is reproducibility of results including full information on the experimental design used, that forensic exclusion is allowed, and that scientific methods for performance evaluation are followed. The article concludes with expected developments regarding technology use and advancements that bear on security and privacy, including data streams and video, de‐anonymization and reidentification, social media analytics and cyber security, and smart camera networks and surveillance.     

似然比在法庭说话人确认中的应用

本文把成功应用于DNA检验的证据评估方法（似然比）应用于法庭语音证据评估之中,提取语音的LPC作为识别特征,并使用45人电话对话录音中元音/a/作为样本进行了测试。结果表明该方法不仅能正确识别说话人,而且能根据当前嫌疑人样本和问题语音样本的差异,量化该语音样本作为证据的力度,为法庭提供科学合理的证据评估结果和科学解释。同时,自动特征提取的引入比起人工提取共振峰特征,提高了工作效率,识别系统性能也获得大幅提升。     

FETAL TESTOSTERONE AND CRIMINALITY: TEST OF EVOLUTIONARY NEUROANDROGENIC THEORY

Evolutionary neuroandrogenic (ENA) theory asserts that criminality is a crude form of competitive behavior over resources, status, and mating opportunities. Theoretically, males have been selected for resource acquisitiveness as a result of female preferences for mates who are successful at resource provisioning. ENA theory also asserts that brain exposure to both prenatal and postpubertal androgens (particularly testosterone) promotes all forms of competitiveness, including those that victimize others. The present study was undertaken to test ENA theory by correlating 14 self‐reported measures of offending with a biomarker for fetal testosterone exposure based on the ratio of the 2nd and 4th digits of the right hand (r2D:4D), in a nonrepresentative sample of 445. Both Spearman correlations and negative binomial regressions produced results that largely supported the hypothesized connection between offending and high prenatal androgen exposure, even when findings were analyzed separately by sex. Also, offending was significantly associated with r2D:4D for both males and females. Overall, this study supports the view that exposing the brain to high levels of testosterone and other androgens prenatally elevates the probability of offending later in life.     

Resolution of African versus non-African origin using a likelihood based method and 11 Y-chromosomal STRs

We propose a simple method for estimation of genetic origin, based on ratios between allelic frequencies of 11 widely applied Y-chromosomal STRs. Using this strategy on 488 men of known ethnicity, it correctly discerned Africans from non-Africans in 89% of the cases.     

Short term impact of Tribulus terrestris intake on doping control analysis of endogenous steroids

Tribulus terrestris is a nutritional supplement highly debated regarding its physiological and actual effects on the organism. The main claimed effect is an increase of testosterone anabolic and androgenic action through the activation of endogenous testosterone production. Even if this biological pathway is not entirely proven, T. terrestris is regularly used by athletes. Recently, the analysis of two female urine samples by GC/C/IRMS (gas chromatography/combustion/isotope-ratio-mass-spectrometry) conclusively revealed the administration of exogenous testosterone or its precursors, even if the testosterone glucuronide/epitestosterone glucuronide (T/E) ratio and steroid marker concentrations were below the cut-off values defined by World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). To argue against this adverse analytical finding, the athletes recognized having used T. terrestris in their diet. In order to test this hypothesis, two female volunteers ingested 500 mg of T. terrestris, three times a day and for two consecutive days. All spot urines were collected during 48 h after the first intake. The ¹³C/¹²C ratio of ketosteroids was determined by GC/C/IRMS, the T/E ratio and DHEA concentrations were measured by GC/MS and LH concentrations by radioimmunoassay. None of these parameters revealed a significant variation or increased above the WADA cut-off limits. Hence, the short-term treatment with T. terrestris showed no impact on the endogenous testosterone metabolism of the two subjects.     

基于似然率方法的语音证据评价

法庭话者识别技术引入我国已有二十多年,目前该技术已经广泛应用于各类刑事和民事案件中。纵观世界各国的法庭证据评价体系,除了DNA证据以外,其他证据检验鉴定结论的表述通常有三种:同一认定、否定排除和倾向性意见。简单肯定和否定的结论存在很大的弊端,即过高估计了证据的力度,因而有时可能会造成错案。鉴于此,国外一些学者提出在鉴定结论的表述和价值评判上引入基于贝叶斯理论的"似然率"方法。本文结合目前的法庭话者鉴别方法,重点介绍基于贝叶斯理论下的"似然率"理论体系,并阐明该方法的优越性、局限性以及一些亟待解决的问题。     

浅谈提高刑事案件中微量物证的利用率

微量物证是指那些在案件现场量小体微、不易被注意、但却能反映作案人相关信息的物证。随着犯罪技术的提高,微量物证的重要性越来越突出。然而由于我国对微量物证的研究起步较晚, 对犯罪现场的微量物证还没有充分的利用。为能有效利用微量物证,必须从思想上重视、技术上深入研究、方法上规范操作,并使现场勘查人员得到足够的培训,使之掌握常见现场微量物证的发现和提取方法。     

Consensus on validation of forensic voice comparison

Since the 1960s, there have been calls for forensic voice comparison to be empirically validated under casework conditions. Since around 2000, there have been an increasing number of researchers and practitioners who conduct forensic-voice-comparison research and casework within the likelihood-ratio framework. In recent years, this community of researchers and practitioners has made substantial progress toward validation under casework conditions becoming a standard part of practice: Procedures for conducting validation have been developed, along with graphics and metrics for representing the results, and an increasing number of papers are being published that include empirical validation of forensic-voice-comparison systems under conditions reflecting casework conditions. An outstanding question, however, is: In the context of a case, given the results of an empirical validation of a forensic-voice-comparison system, how can one decide whether the system is good enough for its output to be used in court? This paper provides a statement of consensus developed in response to this question. Contributors included individuals who had knowledge and experience of validating forensic-voice-comparison systems in research and/or casework contexts, and individuals who had actually presented validation results to courts. They also included individuals who could bring a legal perspective on these matters, and individuals with knowledge and experience of validation in forensic science more broadly. We provide recommendations on what practitioners should do when conducting evaluations and validations, and what they should present to the court. Although our focus is explicitly on forensic voice comparison, we hope that this contribution will be of interest to an audience concerned with validation in forensic science more broadly. Although not written specifically for a legal audience, we hope that this contribution will still be of interest to lawyers.     

多角审视性别失衡与"缺失的女性"

性别失衡已成为我国一个严重的社会问题,性别失衡表现为人口不安全或人口自身状态恶化等危机的出现,而人口安全则是国家安全的重要的组成部分。形成性别失衡的原因复杂多样,其中深层原因是父系继承和女儿外嫁的隐性制度,根本原因是重男轻女,生男偏好的传统文化伦理因素,直接原因是产前胎儿性别鉴定和选择性别的人工终止妊娠手段的滥用。如果不及时预防和有效遏止,它引发未来的男性婚姻挤压和女性严重短缺等诸多社会矛盾,可能造成社会不稳定甚至动乱及危害国家人口安全等严重后果。对此,我们须通过多途径多手段提前干预和规制,如完善有关立法现有责任主体和相关责任追究制度、宣传倡导新型科学的生育文化、构建人口安全预警系统等,努力降低未来出生人口性别比和缓解我国男性婚姻挤压的矛盾。     

试论《公司法》第43条的“出资比例”

学术界和司法机关对中国《公司法》第43条规定的股东按出资比例行使表决权都存在着不同的理解。鉴于股东在股东会会议中行使表决权关乎公司的经营和股东权益的保护，正确理解《公司法》第43条规定的“出资比例”十分必要。该文归纳了理论界对“出资比例”的不同观点，从相关法理的角度对《公司法》第43条的“出资比例”进行了学理解释，并指出，除非公司章程另有规定，应将“出资比例”理解为股东认缴的出资比例。