The National Football League (NFL) will expand the use of facial authentication to every stadium this season. “Big news for Wicket as the NFL expands the use of our technology league-wide this season!” Wicket Chief Operating Officer Jeff Boehm announced. “After a pilot last season, all 32 teams (starting with the New England Patriots!) will be using Wicket to streamline and secure the credentialing program. This will ensure that properly credentialed media, officials, staff, and guests can easily and safely access restricted areas, including the playing field, press box, or locker rooms,” Boehm said. The NFL conducted a six-team trial last season and is ready to make biometric ID verification league-wide. BIG BROTHER: The NFL announced this week that all 32 teams will be implementing facial recognition software to verify the identity of everyone in the stadium. pic.twitter.com/Rpy6UYDhVn — @amuse (@amuse) August 3, 2024 “Credential holders simply take a selfie before they come, and then Wicket verifies their identity and checks their credentials with Accredit (a credentialing platform) as they walk through security checkpoints,” Boehm said. “If last year’s Express Entry facial authentication pilot at select NFL venues was a field goal for Wicket, the biometrics provider has now scored a touchdown, as the league prepares to roll out Wicket’s face biometrics system for digital credentialing across all 30 NFL stadiums, starting with preseason games on August 8,” Biometric Update wrote. Wicket #facialauthentication rolling out at all #NFL stadiums starting Aug 8https://t.co/SdpqlBaO40 — Biometric Update (@BiometricUpdate) July 31, 2024 Biometric Update reports: The selfie-based face biometrics system runs in tandem with accreditation software from Accredit Solutions, which checks credentials at security checkpoints for complete identity access management (IAM). Users with registered credential badges can have them scanned and compared against a real-time selfie taken at the security checkpoint, triggering a green signal for go, or a red signal prohibiting access. It also includes a phone-based system that is available to navigate possible glitches. An update from StadiumTechReport notes some uncertainty about how the Wicket system will operate internally at stadiums. “Early versions of Wicket systems have simply used Apple iPads mounted on poles to provide a place for facial recognition via the iPad cameras,” says the update. “Recently, entry technology companies including Axess have been busy integrating Wicket software into their entry hardware, so it’s possible that teams could end up using that method to host the Wicket system.” For the league, the system brings additional security and protection against fake credentials, which Andrea Schultz, the NFL’s director of strategic security programs, says are a growing problem. The explosion in online sports betting apps has contributed to the problem, as officials try and stamp out efforts to cheat – or steal money in order to cover gambling debts. Wicket’s Biometric Tech to Secure Entire NFL Wicket facial authentication rolling out at all NFL stadiums starting Aug 8 Biometric in-stadium credentialing for IAM aims to clamp down on fake credentialshttps://t.co/ZUBcZnBXuo pic.twitter.com/FSyyg7CA1x — Liberty Times & Politics (@dmills3710) August 3, 2024 From Stadium Tech Report: After a trial last year at several NFL venues, including Cleveland Browns Stadium, the league will implement a Wicket-based system at all 30 league venues for all 32 teams, starting with this summer’s first preseason games. According to a LinkedIn post from Jeff Boehm, Wicket’s chief operating officer, “this [system] will ensure that properly credentialed media, officials, staff, and guests can easily and safely access restricted areas, including the playing field, press box, or locker rooms.” According to a report in Sports Business Journal, the NFL is looking to the Wicket system to help prevent fraudulent use of physical credentials, and to improve the veracity of credential authorization. By tying credentials to a holder’s face, the league hopes to eliminate the sometimes-faulty human credential verification process. Wicket’s facial authentication software systems are gaining rapid acceptance in sports venues, primarily for fan ticket authentication purposes; the Cleveland Browns, the Atlanta Falcons and the New York Mets are all early adopters of using Wicket to help speed up fan entry. The Browns and their caterer Aramark are also using the technology for concessions purchases.

Governor Ron DeSantis has activated a state Emergency Operations Center (EOC), and several Florida counties have announced information about evacuations and shelters.

Does anyone believe that repeating the past four years is good for America? Does anyone think Kamala can handle world leaders? How many wars do we need to convince people the current direction is destroying our nation? As Elon Musk said in a recent interview, he wants someone tough, and you can’t feign the courage […] The post Elon Musk’s Seven Reasons to Vote for Trump appeared first on www.independentsentinel.com.

Donald Trump will not debate Kamala Harris in September on ABC News. If they agree, he will face off on Fox News, but that is doubtful. Trump’s decision is wise. However, the media is distorting his statement. They are calling this tough, courageous man a coward. If people vote for Kamala, they probably listen to […] The post Meet the Real Kamala, Pushing Bad Policies appeared first on www.independentsentinel.com.

The hardcore left Democrats won’t be satisfied until they kill Donald Trump. The attacks are coming from every direction, especially the media. Politico published a vicious opinion piece suggesting Donald Trump is Mussolini and that the assassination attempt was staged. The author of the piece, Ruth Ben-Ghiat, a professor of history and Italian studies, headlined […] The post Killing Donald Trump appeared first on www.independentsentinel.com.

embracing this campaign’s vibes

At a recent “anti-monopoly summit,” Federal Trade Commission Chairman Lina Khan painted a grim picture of life in the American economy. She warned, among other things, that people’s economic liberties are being undermined. To ask the next obvious question, “By whom, Ms. Khan?”Khan’s remarks highlight reasonable fears about bogeymen lurking across our economy. But the academic legal theories she’s aggressively promoting to bring entrepreneurs and businesses to heel have resulted in the FTC’s unbalanced response in fulfilling its mission as a consumer protection agency. These misplaced priorities are demonstrably harming American consumers, as a recently released FTC performance report made abundantly clear.What has a laser-like focus of limited agency resources brought American consumers?Under Khan, the FTC has embarked on a headline-grabbing spate of lawsuits, rulemaking, and merger reviews, punctuated with fawning media interviews, such as with “The Daily Show’s” Jon Stewart.Rules like the recent one against “junk fees” are a prime example of the FTC using its powers for the wrong purposes. Essentially, so-called junk fees are the price we pay for junk regulations. Underpinning fees pushed onto consumers are government regulations that raise costs. If the FTC wanted fully informed consumers, it would make the costs of regulation we pay on every good and service we purchase more transparent. A junk fee regulation would do the opposite by adding additional compliance and paperwork costs to businesses that will, again, pass them on to consumers.These proposed rulings are intended to distract the public from what is actually happening. Our economy is failing, goods and service prices are soaring, and prices are up over 15% with everyday necessities at an all-time high.Instead of protecting consumers, the FTC is more concerned with pushing narratives that distract Americans from the real issues plaguing our country. These efforts are consuming enormous amounts of the agency’s time.What has this laser-like focus of limited agency resources brought American consumers? Court losses and widespread acknowledged shortcomings of the FTC’s highest-profile antitrust cases against Microsoft, Amazon, and Meta/Facebook. According to a recent survey of antitrust law professors in the Yale Law Journal, the FTC’s case against Amazon “is the consensus choice for the weakest” among the five major cases brought by federal antitrust enforcers against Big Tech companies.The Amazon and Meta/Facebook cases put the FTC in the unenviable position of having brought two of the three lowest-regarded cases, all of which have drawn criticism.Khan let it be known early on that she wanted to bring lots of antitrust cases, leading the New York Times to question the agency’s shift in priorities and strategy. “We’re definitely focusing our resources on litigating,” Khan told the paper. But so far, the FTC has struggled to bring much change to the law or to the welfare of everyday consumers.In 2023, the agency lost a string of merger challenges in court (Illumina’s acquisition of GRAIL being the only exception). Major defeats for the FTC included Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard and Meta’s acquisition of Within Unlimited.The agency and its allies say that several objectionable deals were abandoned after the FTC filed challenges and that another batch of challenges resulted in settlements. Critics assert that the cost to American global competitiveness has been far too high, while everyday scams and fraud are seemingly running amok.Congress has never explicitly authorized the FTC to engage in rulemaking for competition issues, recognizing that allowing the agency to simultaneously define and enforce rules could lead to bureaucratic overreach. Yet the FTC is burning more of its resources on lengthy rulemaking proceedings that introduce novel and capricious interpretations of its authority.The agency had 24 pending rules in the fall of 2022 and 23 during 2023, which is substantially higher than usual. The annual total was as low as 12 during the Clinton and Bush administrations. FTC rulemakings can be time-consuming and labor-intensive, often lasting for years. If the courts overturn any of them, was it worth shooting for the moon instead of focusing on protecting the American consumer?The immense amount of time spent on all these unnecessary undertakings appears to have further distracted the FTC from its core mission to protect consumers against fraudsters and scams. Lina Khan is more worried about being in the limelight than addressing what is truly harming consumers, leaving the American consumer more vulnerable than ever.

On September 11, 2001, Genelle Guzman-McMillan made it from the 64th floor to the 13th floor of the North Tower when "everything went black." Over 27 hours later, she was miraculously pulled out of the wreckage. The post The Incredible Survival Story Of Genelle Guzman-McMillan, The Last Person Rescued After The September 11th Attacks appeared first on All That's Interesting.