Based on the success and early results of its pilot program, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) plans to roll out facial recognition at security checkpoints in 400 more airports in the coming years, Fast Company reported.
It’s a controversial program, to be sure.
Opponents of the program have long said it’s a violation of personal freedoms, and they also say that the TSA is improperly coercing people to participate.
The pilot program is currently in effect at 25 airports across the country, with a 97 percent success rate, according to the TSA.
Advocates say it adds another level of airport security.
“TSA doing its own testing and not releasing the results publicly calls into question the quality of the testing and veracity of the results,” says Jeramie Scott, a senior counsel and director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center’s surveillance oversight program. “Given there are over 2 million airline passengers a day, a 97 percent effective rate means there would be over 60,000 people a day the tech doesn’t work on if fully implemented. Regardless of the results though, TSA should not be implementing the use of facial recognition. TSA’s claims of protecting privacy and the voluntariness of the program mean very little when the agency can change on a whim how the program is implemented.”
“The comparison is extremely accurate,” a TSA spokesman said of the software that compares a person’s face with that of their identification.
The spokesman said that the TSA also does not save the images.
“Biometric data is overwritten as soon as the next passenger steps up to the queue,” he says. “And then, when the technology is turned off at the end of the day, whatever storage system in there dumps completely. There is no saved image.”
The agency acknowledges that it hopes to someday get to a point where it does not need physical identification, such as a driver’s license, but relies solely on facial recognition.
Opponents say that the program not only violates civil liberties but that the TSA does not allow passengers to opt-out. The TSA counters by saying that participation is voluntary and there is signage at the airport that allows passengers to simply tell an agent that they do not wish to participate and prefer the physical ID’s.
But the Algorithmic Justice League found in a recent survey that 60 of 67 respondents saw no signage at the airport and were not asked by TSA agents for their consent.
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