TSA Tests Facial Recognition Technology To Boost Airport Security (apnews.com) 38
An anonymous reader shares a report: A passenger walks up to an airport security checkpoint, slips an ID card into a slot and looks into a camera atop a small screen. The screen flashes "Photo Complete" and the person walks through -- all without having to hand over their identification to the TSA officer sitting behind the screen. It's all part of a pilot project by the Transportation Security Administration to assess the use of facial recognition technology at a number of airports across the country. "What we are trying to do with this is aid the officers to actually determine that you are who you say who you are," said Jason Lim, identity management capabilities manager, during a demonstration of the technology to reporters at Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport.
The effort comes at a time when the use of various forms of technology to enhance security and streamline procedures is only increasing. TSA says the pilot is voluntary and accurate, but critics have raised concerns about questions of bias in facial recognition technology and possible repercussions for passengers who want to opt out. The technology is currently in 16 airports. In addition to Baltimore, it's being used at Reagan National near Washington, D.C., airports in Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami, Orlando, Phoenix, Salt Lake City, San Jose, and Gulfport-Biloxi and Jackson in Mississippi. However, it's not at every TSA checkpoint so not every traveler going through those airports would necessarily experience it.
The effort comes at a time when the use of various forms of technology to enhance security and streamline procedures is only increasing. TSA says the pilot is voluntary and accurate, but critics have raised concerns about questions of bias in facial recognition technology and possible repercussions for passengers who want to opt out. The technology is currently in 16 airports. In addition to Baltimore, it's being used at Reagan National near Washington, D.C., airports in Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami, Orlando, Phoenix, Salt Lake City, San Jose, and Gulfport-Biloxi and Jackson in Mississippi. However, it's not at every TSA checkpoint so not every traveler going through those airports would necessarily experience it.
Privacy is the Problem (Score:3)
The issue with this type of thing is that we have no robust privacy laws in place and no reason to trust the government to follow those laws based on past experience. It's not a crazy idea from a functional standpoint, but there is zero protection for anyone on the back end.
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"The issue with this type of thing is that we have no robust privacy laws in place and no reason to trust the government to follow those laws based on past experience. "
This thing works with the image and fingerprints stored electronically ON your passport, you provided them voluntarily for exactly this case.
So why complain?
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"voluntarily"
Re: Privacy is the Problem (Score:2)
I donâ(TM)t think you understand the definition of voluntary. Itâ(TM)s defined in the constitution
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You mean you had a choice other than not getting a passport?
Pictures and fingerprints are a mandatory part of getting a US passport.
Your Country might have different rules.
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There are no requirement to provide fingerprints for a US passport. You provide proof of citizenship or birth in the US, SSN, and a 2"x2" photo. Oh, and $165 of course but the passport is good for 10 years so less than $20 a year.
Passport requirements [state.gov]
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Yes.
A passport isn't required for flying between states. I fly within the US yet do not and never have had have a passport.
A distinction without a difference. Soon, a REAL ID will be required to fly internally in the US. That is, for all intents and purposes, functionally a passport for travelling inside the country. As it stands currently, to fly you need one or more of: Driver's licenses or other state photo identity cards issued by Department of Motor Vehicles (or equivalent), U.S. passport, U.S. passport card, DHS trusted traveler cards (Global Entry, NEXUS, SENTRI, FAST), U.S. Department of Defense ID, including IDs issued
Re:Privacy is the Problem (Score:4, Interesting)
There is nothing voluntary about having to provide fingerprints for your passport. Certainly not in Europe, where the EU mandates all passports must contain fingerprints.
There was even a ruckus about having to provide fingerprints or no identity card, that you are by law "able to produce upon request" (ie you have to have it on you at all times) on pain of fine. In fact, you have to have one or you have no access to your rights as a citizen. I know this from personal experience, as the local council refused to replace mine, took years to get one again. Notice that "right to work" is one of those rights, so not allowed to earn anything in the meantime. And that as a born-and-bred local, not some illegal alien or other.
So they hemmed and hawed and disconnected card and booklet, so you could have a card without the fingerprints. To placate the plebs. Damn plebs. But not the passport, so no travel outside the EU* without giving up your fingerprints. Then the eurocrats in brussels turned around and said fingerprints to be a hard requirement for ID cards as well.
This ultimately thanks to the US demanding "biometric" RFIDed passports for their "visa free entry programme"**. Oh, and the metal foil US passports got to stop the radio waves leaking out? No such thing elsewhere. You have to bring your own.
And then it turns out the fingerprints aren't just stored on the passport. As it already has with the photo. There were plans to use the piccies for something else, so people went, "waitaminute, you don't have those stored like you said you wouldn't, have you?" 'er, oops.'
A bit like the US feds raiding DMVs across the country to feed their facial recognition database with. That, too, is a problem due to a lack of privacy laws in the US. That's abusing data handed over for one purpose by repurposing it for another. This is a breach of trust.
This here, these "biometrics" were forced out of every chipped passport holder for exactly this purpose. But it was not at all voluntarily.
So you claiming this is you being disingenious. And do use quote tags, will you.
Notice that this is true even in the best case, and time and again we see that governments just cannot be trusted with data because they treat it like they can do whatever the fancy strikes them today, with no accountability and no recourse.
So yeah, better privacy laws are not really optional at this point. You can see it in the cascading of damage after even a simple demand rushed through after a calamity.
* Well, outside the list of countries that accept that card, which is the EU and a few more, but still well short of the full list of countries on earth.
** Formerly a green form to be filled out in the plane. Now a hassle with a website form at least 72 hours beforehand, and with a fee. This fee, by the by, is there to fund a campaign that aims to make visitors to the US feel less put off by all the paperwork hassle. I kid you not.
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"There is nothing voluntary about having to provide fingerprints for your passport. Certainly not in Europe, where the EU mandates all passports must contain fingerprints. "
OTOH, you can travel with your ID card to Bora-Bora, Cayenne, Martinique, Miquelon,...
But those too contain the data.
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Well, that's fine IF you have a passport.
I think last time I read only about 10% of US citizens have a passport.
I had one as a teenager....I've not travelled out of the country since you needed only a drivers license to go to Mexico....and at least for now, I have no need to leave our borders, there's still SO much to see here in the US I've not seen yet.
But yeah..
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The rest of the people travelling have some sort of government issued ID like a driver's license which conforms with the REAL ID (some still don't comply, but they will soon) and most of the states share that photo ID database
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Intrusive, I'll grant you....but that should be enough.
Taking my picture and putting yet another one in a database...and getting my fingerprints....well, that's just a bit much don't you think?
What's next a DNA sample? Blood draw?
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Re: Privacy is the Problem (Score:2)
This is the exact same kiosk used for non-US citizens to enter the country at other ports of authority, such as JFK, Ohare and Atlanta. So are you saying privacy is the problem only if you are an American citizen? I am confused.
Immigration and Boarding Use this Too (Score:2)
This technology is in pretty common use for boarding where they scan your face instead of your boarding pass (and checking your passport). It's a bit slower in my experience so still needs some work.
The other place is in Immigration into the US you just look at a machine and it prints you out a slip to get you in the country. Much more convenient than scanning your passport, but strangely you used to also answer questions at the machine which they've moved to a CBP officer asking you.
Given that photo ID
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It's also pretty common in countries that aren't the US, where it's been in widespread use for at least ten years.
The crazy thing is that it was the US that pushed all this biometric-passport crap on the rest of the world as part of it's post-911 paranoia. The rest of the world adopted it and went with it, but the US, more than 20 years later, still hasn't.
Boost? (Score:2)
"What we are trying to do with this is aid the officers to actually determine that you are who you say who you are,"
Have there been any reports of people getting through with false ID?
I think it's a solution in search of a problem.
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Facial recognition (Score:2)
I wasnâ(TM)t aware that facial recognition is such a hard problem. Iâ(TM)d have thought most people can recognize a facial just fine.
Already in Use (Score:5, Informative)
It makes immigration and customs much faster and since they already have all your data electronically already I don't see it raising any more privacy concerns beyond those that exist already. Of course this only works for international travel and for those who have an electronically readable passport - for domestic travel within Canada it is still manual ID checks at boarding time.
customer experience (Score:2)
Face verification is not face recognition (Score:2)
Face recognition is hard. Face verification is much easier. All is required is to decide whether you are who you say you are, not figuring out who you are among the 8 billion people on earth or in orbit.
Also, why and when did everyone start calling this "facial"? Some porn watchers got confused?
Re: Face verification is not face recognition (Score:2)
aiding (Score:1)
"What we are trying to do with this is aid the officers to actually determine that you are who you say who you are," said Jason Lim.
Oh, and then once we aid them, we're going to fire them (he added).
Isn't the bigger problem deciding trustworthiness? (Score:2)
Even if the system can authenticate people with perfect accuracy, isn't that solving the lesser problem? The bigger and much more important problem is determining whether an individual can be trusted. The assumption is that trustworthiness is a constant characteristic that can be ascertained once, so that authentication is equivalent to ascertaining trustworthiness. The constant assumption is incorrect, so preapproval is inherently vulnerable. However, the much bigger problem is ascertaining trustworthi
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The assumption is that trustworthiness is a constant characteristic that can be ascertained once
I have to re-apply for Global Entry every five years. They haven't dragged me back for an interview yet, but yeah: if I haven't been raising red flags in the meantime, I'm probably as good of a security risk as I was five years ago. I'm a legally boring guy with a normal job who likes to travel. That's it. The local TSA agents actually know me and my wife by face if not name.
/o\ (Score:1)
"*Beep* You've been randomly-selected to be molested; please step into the cubicle to your right..."
New TSA Slogan (Score:2)
"If you want to fly,
you gotta train our AI."
What could go wrong? (Score:1)
Identity = Security (Score:2)
"What we are trying to do with this is aid the officers to actually determine that you are who you say who you are,"
Weren't all the 9/11 hijackers fully identified before they boarded? How will more identity tracking keep us safer? What exactly is the TSA supposedly protecting us from?