With this partnership, the companies expect to exceed sales of over one billion yen (US$9.1 million) within two years in Toppan’s focus markets of Japan and ASEAN countries. The combined offering will enhance privacy protection for customers in industry verticals such as smart cities, tourism and travel, human resources, healthcare, finance, and more.
Founded in 2017 by veterans of the Israel Defense Forces Intelligence Corps’ elite 8200 unit, D-ID, based in Tel Aviv, created the first facial image de-identification solution that protects user privacy against facial recognition software. D-ID allows organizations to enhance security and ensure the privacy of their customers and employees with state-of-the-art technology that protects sensitive biometric information in facial images and videos. With advanced image processing and deep learning techniques, D-ID’s De-Identification solutions can resynthesize any given photo in a way that enables humans to recognize it but prevents facial recognition engines from identifying it with biometric scanning tools. D-ID also offers Smart Anonymization tools to replace facial images with AI-generated faces in videos and still images, allowing organizations to apply advanced analytics and monetize video data, while still meeting strict privacy regulations.
“More than 80% of data traffic is video, and much of that includes identifiable facial images. Facial recognition has become so widespread and accurate that many governments, companies, privacy groups and individuals are concerned about how their sensitive biometric data is being collected, accessed and used. At the same time, businesses are desperately seeking solutions to de-identify and anonymize this data so they can use it commercially while still ensuring customer privacy,” said Gil Perry, co-founder and CEO of D-ID. “We are proud to partner with an innovation-leader like Toppan, to offer the most advanced privacy protection solutions to the Japanese market. The demand for solutions to protect identities from the misuse of facial recognition is growing rapidly around the world as more and more businesses wish to enhance privacy protection and avoid the threat aspects of automated face recognition.”
Built around D-ID’s solutions, Toppan’s new service prevents the identification of personal information by AI facial recognition technology. As a result, personal privacy can be protected and secure data retention and utilization can be realized in companies. Toppan intends to deploy the service in its businesses related to smart cities, travel and tourism, human resources, healthcare, finance, and revitalization of regional economies, and to develop new services focused on personal privacy protection through combination with its own diverse solutions.
“Securing personal data is an increasingly important challenge for global companies following the introduction of strict regulations, including the European GDPR and Japanese APPI. Businesses need to ensure compliance and security with their product offerings, but also convenience. This partnership allows us to ensure the protection of personal privacy by linking facial de-identification services with our various customer solutions, and provides protection against data breaches and leaks of personally identifiable information,” said Minoru Saito, Senior General Manager of Toppan’s Digital Security business. “With our joint offering, Toppan and D-ID will allow companies to improve their security and ensure that the privacy of data subjects, customers and employees, is properly protected.”
