Partial Shutdown of NIST Biometric Services

The US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has announced a suspension of all biometric testing, ranking and research activities — including the Facial Recognition Vendor Test (FRVT) — as a result of the ongoing US government shutdown. The pause interrupts one of the world’s most influential evaluation programmes for facial recognition algorithms, relied upon by governments, border agencies, and private sector developers to benchmark performance and fairness.