The Transportation Security Administration is testing the use of facial recognition technology at U.S. airports to identify passengers as they pass through security.
The technology is purposefully limited due to privacy concerns; the cameras are only used to compare one's face with their ID, and it's only activated when an ID is inserted, the Associated Press reported. The TSA hails the system as drastically increasing convenience and security despite an abundance of caution from naysayers.
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“What we are trying to do with this is aid the officers to actually determine that you are who you say who you are,” Jason Lim, identity management capabilities manager, said while presenting the technology to reporters at Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport.
Lim acknowledged the concerns of skeptics who worry about the wider implications of the increased use of the technology.
“We take these privacy concerns and civil rights concerns very seriously because we touch so many people every day,” he said.
The pilot program is currently active across select terminals in 16 different airports across the nation: 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.
Use of the technology is also optional, and travelers can opt out without a problem.
Despite assurances from the TSA, the use of the technology has resulted in an outcry from many, including some in Congress. When first made aware of the technology, five senators, including Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Cory Booker (D-NJ), and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), sent a letter to the TSA protesting its use.
"Increasing biometric surveillance of Americans by the government represents a risk to civil liberties and privacy rights," the senators wrote.
"Currently if a U.S. traveler shows up to one of the 16 airports testing this technology, they will be met with a facial identification scanner before they can proceed to their flight. Thousands of people daily are encountering a decision to travel or safeguard their privacy — a decision that threatens our democracy," they added.
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The senators also brought up the fear that people's biometric data could fall into the hands of "authorized private corporations or unauthorized bad actors," pointing to a data breach in the Department of Homeland Security in 2019 as an example.
Lim assured reporters that people's pictures are only used to check that it's the same person in their ID and that the image is then deleted. However, he admitted that in some cases, photos are sent to DHS for testing purposes but are deleted within 24 months.