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Privacy Technology Your Rights Online

Your Face Is, or Will Be, Your Boarding Pass (nytimes.com) 144

Posted by msmash from the closer-look dept.
Tech-driven changes are coming fast and furiously to airports, including advancements in biometrics that verify identity and shorten security procedures for those passengers who opt into the programs. From a report: If it's been a year or more since you traveled, particularly internationally, you may notice something different at airports in the United States: More steps -- from checking a bag to clearing customs -- are being automated using biometrics. Biometrics are unique individual traits, such as fingerprints, that can be used to automate and verify identity. They promise both more security and efficiency in moving travelers through an airport where, at steps from check-in to boarding, passengers are normally required to show government-issued photo identification. In the travel hiatus caused by the pandemic, many airports, airlines, tech companies and government agencies like the Transportation Security Administration and United States Customs and Border Protection continued to invest in biometric advancements. The need for social distancing and contactless interactions only added to the urgency.

"The technologies have gotten much more sophisticated and the accuracy rate much higher," said Robert Tappan, the managing director for the trade group International Biometrics + Identity Association, who called the impetus to ease crowds and reduce contact through these instruments "COVID-accelerated." Many of the latest biometric developments use facial recognition, which the National Institute of Standards and Technology recently found is at least 99.5 percent accurate, rather than iris-scanning or fingerprints. "Iris-scanning has been touted as the most foolproof," said Sherry Stein, the head of technology in the Americas for SITA, a Switzerland-based biometrics tech company. "For biometrics to work, you have to be able to match to a known trusted source of data because you're trying to compare it to a record on file. The face is the easiest because all the documents we use that prove your identity -- driver's licenses, passports etc. -- rely on face." Shortly after 9/11, Congress mandated an entry and exit system using biometric technology to secure U.S. borders. Some travelers have expressed concerns about privacy, and while companies and agencies using the technology say they do not retain the images, the systems largely rely on willing travelers who agree to their use.
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Your Face Is, or Will Be, Your Boarding Pass More

Your Face Is, or Will Be, Your Boarding Pass

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  • Oh, this is terrible. Ugly people will be locked out of the system.

  • so will this fix the BIG fees to fix an name typo?

  • When I have to show a photo id to the tsa screener along with my boarding pass?

    • When I have to show a photo id to the tsa screener along with my boarding pass?

      Well, to be fair it is a "little" different, in that it is a human taking a look at the analog pic on the card...not entering into or going against a large government maintained database that can be used for God knows what.

      I put tape across the parts of the back of my DL so that it cannot be scanned, so that helps block that.

      Last time, they did try to scan it and I told them that wouldn't work and they shrugged and just looked

      • Yeah. It's just the airline that has you on the manifest. You're totally sticking it to the man by declining to let a law enforcement officer scan your government issued id card to verify that you're the same you that bought a plane ticket under your own name.

        • Yeah. It's just the airline that has you on the manifest. You're totally sticking it to the man by declining to let a law enforcement officer scan your government issued id card to verify that you're the same you that bought a plane ticket under your own name.

          Oh, I'm not saying that.

          I am saying, I'm trying to do what little I can to keep my information off systems.

          I know a ton of companies out there have info on me, but I try to NOT make it easy and voluntarily give them my info.

          I don't fill out custome

        • As long as you passed security (aren't carrying anything to endanger an aircraft), why should your name make any difference? European Union leaves it up to airline and airport policy for flights within the EU, and I don't see planes fallout out of the sky there.

      • They're scanning it to see if it's fake. Nobody cares how many cases of Coors Light you're buying weekly.

        • They're scanning it to see if it's fake. Nobody cares how many cases of Coors Light you're buying weekly.

          I'm guessing it isn't too beyond the pale, to guess that insurance companies would love to buy customer purchase information, to see if you're buying smokes, alcohol or unhealthy foods....if you go into bars, etc in order to use that data to enhance their actuary files on all of us.

      • Passport is perfectly legal to buy alcohol with and can't be scanned using most ID scanners and scanner apps. Use that.

        • Passport is perfectly legal to buy alcohol with and can't be scanned using most ID scanners and scanner apps. Use that.

          Well, for one thing, I don't have a passport.

          I had one decades back when I was 16yrs and went to Europe for a couple weeks with my parents, but I've not needed one since then.

          I guess I could ask the US Passport folks to re-issue?

          I've not had any reason to get a passport. I'd not thought of using one as ID.

          • You have to do a fresh application for a passport if yours is more than 10 years expired, IIRC, but it's a handy thing to have. Or was, pre-COVID.

            It's proof of identity and citizenship rolled into one document. Got mine at 18 and I've maintained it over the years. The old policy of letting US residents through to Canada, Mexico, and most of the Caribbean with birth certificate only (if that; back in the 90s I went through Canada a few times with "yeah, I'm a US citizen") is dead.

            FWIW. If you have a clea
            • You can often ENTER Mexico without a passport ... the trick is returning to the USA :)
            • Yeah, I haven't left the US since you could use a birth cert to go back and forth from Mexico.

              And with all the crap going on in Mexico with drug cartels...I don't really see myself leaving the US any time soon....

              So, I really don't have a need for one.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Ksevio ( 865461 )

      I think it was in place when I flew out of Logan Airport in Boston a few weeks ago. There was all the standard TSA screening where they wanted an ID, but at the gate you didn't have to show a boarding pass, you just stood in front of these little gates with a screen and camera which opened and you could go onto the plane.

      • About two months ago, gate wanted a boarding pass but TSA didn't want my ID, just the boarding pass scan. Small airport, possibly a test site. It's where I live, so they have had ample opportunity for face recognition capture, and they have let me through with stuff that would be completely verboten when I was tight on time to allow the gate agent to check bags.

        Small airports are expensive and don't have a lot of options for intermediate destinations. But you can get away with minor violations of the rules

  • "Shortly after 9/11, Congress mandated an entry and exit system using biometric technology to secure U.S. borders."

    You have to WANT to secure your border and, considering what's happening on the southern US border, elected officials don't.

  • Before: Show your passport to border agent. Agent compares your face to photo on passport.

    Now: Show your passport to border machine. Machine compares your face to photo on passport.

    Oh, and airlines won't give you an actually physical boarding pass anymore. Just hold onto your passport same as before. I'm a bit confused though - Why do the airlines need to have a copy of your photo/scan too?

    • They absolutely give physical boarding passes. Watch as all the old people or the people in the lower seating groups, and they will almost always usual a flimsy paper ticket. Usually anyone who gets upgraded or gets on as standyby gets the old thick paper ticket.

      I fly more than a fair amount, prefer to use the apps exclusively, but I am not going to argue if they upgrade / move my seat for whatever reason. It usually shows up in the app but if its a last minute upgrade they give me the paper just in case

    • I've never been denied a paper boarding pass. I use the digital ones all the time, but always ask for paper as a back up in case I get bored and drain my phone battery accidentally, never been told no.

    • Oh, and airlines won't give you an actually physical boarding pass anymore. Just hold onto your passport same as before. I'm a bit confused though - Why do the airlines need to have a copy of your photo/scan too?

      Well, when I fly, I either print mine out at home, or I have them print me on when I check in at the counter, I've not had a problem with that yet.

      And I just use my drivers license with tape on the back so the back can't be scanned. I've not had a passport since the dark ages when I was 16yrs old

  • BIPOC (Score:2)

    by kenh ( 9056 )

    I once read an article that described a particular facial recognition package that struggled to accurately identify BIPOC faces, therefore any system that employs and form of facial recognition is by definition racist and is intended to limit/prevent participation of BIPOC people in air travel.

    • I once read an article that described a particular facial recognition package that struggled to accurately identify BIPOC faces, therefore any system that employs and form of facial recognition is by definition racist and is intended to limit/prevent participation of BIPOC people in air travel.

      You're obviously trolling but that's actually a valid concern/criticism.

      The accuracy is "99.5%" but for who knows what population (the article is paywalled). For standard algorithms dark skinned women can have 20-30% lower accuracy than light skinned males [harvard.edu]. Does that mean the accuracy for this system is 90%? 80% 70%?

      It's not that it "is intended to limit/prevent participation of BIPOC people in air travel". But would this system be deployed if the accuracy rates for white males were the same as they are for

      • To be fair, its white males people are usually afraid of on airplanes. No one is worried about black female terrorists. 99.9% of all "airline" related terrorists to date have been white males.

  • The problem with this stuff is that there are no standards around it. We still don't have meaningful privacy regulations at the federal level. We can't go a week on slashdot with a story about how the federal government is *totally* going to get it's shit together with regards to cybersecurity this time.

    People don't feel confident in this stuff because there is absolutely no reason whatsoever for them to feel confident in it.

    I think Star Trek is the dream here - seamless integration, portable preferences

  • so... (Score:3)

    by hamburger lady ( 218108 ) on Wednesday December 08, 2021 @03:10PM (#62060339)

    will my voice be my passport?

  • The lead hijackers were all in this country under their own names. Mohammad Atta was on the DOJ's watch list of suspectedt terrorists and got in on a visa, a visa which he then overstayed and wasn't sent home.

    There were reports of people learning to fly planes, but not take off or land, and those reports weren't followed up.

    But yeah, ol' miss Johnson down the street needs to have facial scan, retina scan, fingerprints and proctology exam to get on a plane to see her grandson Jimmy.

    So long as the U.S. gover

  • Hard to see why this is somehow unexpected, after all, currently you are identified by an Intelligence by your photo. Having an artificial intelligence do this is hardly surprising, and Australian SmartGates have been running at the borders to streamline passport control since 2007.

  • Did it to me a week ago (Score:4, Interesting)

    by biggaijin ( 126513 ) on Wednesday December 08, 2021 @04:59PM (#62060803)

    This happened to me when I was boarding a flight a week or so ago. They pointed a camera at me and in about a half-second the machine beeped and spit out a boarding pass with my seat number and name on it, No one asked to see the paper boarding pass I was holding in my hand. It was very disquieting. I would prefer that my face not be in a database like this. I am not even sure where the database was or who it belonged to. The airline has never taken my photo (until this).

  • >"while companies and agencies using the technology say they do not retain the images,"

    Yeah right.
    We (the peons being subjected to it) have no way to know that, prove that, or verify that. Data that is collected is data that can be abused.

  • My mandatory mask is covering my boarding pass.

  • ... since the summer of 1993.

  • Although I'm sure you'll get put on some terrorist watch list if you opt out.

  • So the deployment of real-time facial recognition software in China is condemned.

    But same thing in the West is not.

    You can quibble about the wording or the nuances of the difference between this and what's happening in China (and several other countries ... but you would be fooling yourself.

  • I'm fine with this. The government already has your picture multiple ways, so does the airport on dozens of cameras, and the TSA agent who looks at (and possibly scans) your ID. This is just a modern convenience of them identifying you in an airport. It makes the process faster for everyone.

    I have Global Entry, which involved an interview and background check, and my crossing the border into the US is now: Exit plane, walk towards immigration, stop at kiosk which only takes my picture.and gives me a receipt

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