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Facial Recognition At US Airports Becomes A Routine

Accepted submission by Arthur T Knackerbracket at 2018-03-20 10:05:29
Digital Liberty

COLLECTED BY Arthur Bot - NEEDS EDITING

The new report [documentcloud.org], which was released Thursday, comes on the heels of a related 2016 report [arstechnica.com] showing that half of Americans’ faces are already in a facial recognition database.

“As currently envisioned, the program represents a serious escalation of biometric scanning of Americans, and there are no codified rules that constrain it,” the report concludes [documentcloud.org].

In July 2017, Ars reported [arstechnica.com] that facial-scanning pilot programs are already underway in international departure airports at six American airports—Boston, Chicago, Houston, Atlanta, New York City, and Washington, DC. More are set to expand next year. In a recent privacy assessment issued one month earlier, DHS noted [documentcloud.org] that the “only way for an individual to ensure he or she is not subject to collection of biometric information when traveling internationally is to refrain from traveling.”

“We’re wondering if this is the best use of a billion dollars?” she said. “We’ve done the research and we think the answer to that question is ‘no.’”

“When American citizens travel by air, they should not have to choose between privacy and security,” he said. “The implementation of DHS facial scanning program for US citizens leaving the country raises a number of questions.”

The senator also pointed out that DHS has said it has a goal of a “96 percent” accuracy rate, which he said was inadequate.

“That means that four percent of travelers will be improperly flagged by the scanning program,” Sen. Markey said. “This could still result in a false denial for one out of 25 travelers.”

In response to Ars’ question, Markey admitted that he did not know if he himself had already been scanned at Logan International Airport in Boston or Dulles International Airport near Washington, DC.

“The pilot program is limited, so I probably have not. But I don’t know that with 100-percent certainty.”


Original Submission