{"id":22925,"date":"2022-12-13T01:36:23","date_gmt":"2022-12-13T01:36:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mailinvest.blog\/index.php\/2022\/12\/13\/tsa-quietly-deploying-facial-recognition-scanners-at-major-us-airports\/"},"modified":"2022-12-13T01:36:23","modified_gmt":"2022-12-13T01:36:23","slug":"tsa-quietly-deploying-facial-recognition-scanners-at-major-us-airports","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mailinvest.blog\/index.php\/2022\/12\/13\/tsa-quietly-deploying-facial-recognition-scanners-at-major-us-airports\/","title":{"rendered":"TSA Quietly Deploying Facial Recognition Scanners At Major US Airports"},"content":{"rendered":"

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from the controversial-agency-rolls-out-controversial-tech<\/i> dept<\/h3>\n

The TSA has been working towards<\/a> this goal for nearly a half-decade. Its parent agency, the DHS, has already deployed<\/a> facial recognition tech, most of it aimed at foreigners. The CBP uses it all the time. In 2020, the CBP\u2019s facial recognition scanners at US borders captured 50 million facial images<\/a> and less than 300 \u201cimpostors,\u201d including (according to its press release<\/a>) someone using their sister\u2019s ID because they themselves had not received a COVID vaccination. Millions spent. Millions scanned. Barely anything useful accomplished. Par for the DHS course.<\/p>\n

The TSA\u2019s chance to inflict facial recognition tech on domestic travelers and US residents has finally arrived. Geoffrey Fowler has more details in his article for the Washington Post<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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The Transportation Security Administration has been quietly testing controversial\u00a0facial recognition technology<\/a>\u00a0for passenger screening at 16 major domestic airports \u2014 from Washington to Los Angeles \u2014 and hopes to expand it across the United States as soon as next year. Kiosks with cameras are doing a job that used to be completed by humans: checking the photos on travelers\u2019 IDs to make sure they\u2019re not impostors.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

At this point, the system is still voluntary. Travelers can opt out and be verified by human. The TSA claims this won\u2019t result in more hassle for those who opt out, but we should probably withhold judgment on this assertion until there\u2019s more data. <\/p>\n

As for data \u2014 such as false positive rates, etc. \u2014 the TSA doesn\u2019t have any. The fact that it\u2019s a one-to-one comparison should make false positives\/negatives less likely, but once again, we\u2019ll have to wait for the TSA to cough up some data to gauge how accurate its biometric tech is.<\/p>\n

The TSA also says it won\u2019t store ID info and face images\u2026 except when it stores them both because reasons.<\/p>\n

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The TSA says it doesn\u2019t use facial recognition for law-enforcement purposes. It also says it minimizes holding on to our face data, so it isn\u2019t using the scans to build out a new national database of face IDs.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cThe scanning and match is made and immediately overwritten at the Travel Document Checker podium. We keep neither the live photo nor the photo of the ID,\u201d said Lim. But the TSA did acknowledge there are cases in which it holds on to the data for up to 24 months so its science and technology office can evaluate the system\u2019s effectiveness.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

And the TSA definitely has plans to store this info indefinitely. Fowler\u2019s article says the TSA plans to roll out a program (presumably opt-in) where travelers won\u2019t need to present identification. Instead, their faces will be their IDs, linked to whatever else is retained in the TSA\u2019s database. This has already been tested with some PreCheck travelers who have flown on Delta planes. In this case, approved travelers\u2019 faces are compared to images (passport, drivers license) photos already contained in government databases.<\/p>\n

It may sound reasonable and it certainly seems inevitable, but the rollout of biometric scanners to verify domestic travelers isn\u2019t something to be welcomed. We have no idea how well the TSA\u2019s scanners work. And while it may be voluntary at the moment, you can be sure the TSA will opt for mandatory as soon as it feels it can get away with it. The TSA isn\u2019t going anywhere either, unfortunately. So, in the end, there\u2019s nothing voluntary about the experience, no matter which option travelers choose.<\/p>\n

\nFiled Under: facial recognition<\/a>, tsa<\/a>
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