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A2 UP FRONT
Tuesday 16 May 2023

TSA is testing facial recognition at more airports, raising privacy concerns

Continued from Front ference in the algorithm’s
ability to recognize pas-
The effort comes at a time sengers based on things
when the use of various like age, gender, race and
forms of technology to en- ethnicity.
hance security and stream- Lim said the images aren’t
line procedures is only in- being compiled into a da-
creasing. tabase, and that photos
TSA says the pilot is volun- and IDs are deleted. Since
tary and accurate, but crit- this is an assessment, in lim-
ics have raised concerns ited circumstances some
about questions of bias in data is collected and
facial recognition technol- shared with the Depart-
ogy and possible repercus- ment of Homeland Secu-
sions for passengers who rity’s Science and Technol-
want to opt out. ogy Directorate. TSA says
The technology is currently that data is deleted after
in 16 airports. In addition to 24 months.
Baltimore, it’s being used Lim said the camera only
at Reagan National near turns on when a person puts
Washington, D.C., airports in their ID card — so it’s not
in Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, randomly gathering imag-
Denver, Detroit, Las Vegas, es of people at the airport.
Los Angeles, Miami, Orlan- That also gives passengers
do, Phoenix, Salt Lake City, control over whether they
San Jose, and Gulfport- want to use it, he said. And
Biloxi and Jackson in Mis- he said that research has
sissippi. However, it’s not shown that while some al-
at every TSA checkpoint gorithms do perform worse
so not every traveler go- with certain demograph-
ing through those airports ics, it also shows that high-
would necessarily experi- er-quality algorithms, like
ence it. the one the agency uses,
Travelers put their driver’s li- are much more accurate.
cense into a slot that reads He said using the best avail-
the card or place their able cameras also is a fac-
passport photo against a tor.
card reader. Then they look “We take these privacy
at a camera on a screen concerns and civil rights
about the size of an iPad, Transportation Security Administration’s Identity Management Capabilities Manager Jason Lim concerns very seriously, be-
which captures their image discusses TSA’s new facial recognition technology during an interview with The Associated cause we touch so many
and compares it to their Press at a Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport security checkpoint, people every day,” he said.
Wednesday, April 26, 2023, in Glen Burnie, Md.
ID. The technology is both Associated Press Retired TSA official Keith
checking to make sure Jeffries said the pandemic
the people at the airport greatly accelerated the
match the ID they present As various forms of tech- aims. eventually the use of bio- rollout of various types of
and that the identification nology that use biometric With regard to the TSA pi- metrics would be required this “touchless” technol-
is in fact real. A TSA officer information like face IDs, lot, Foster said she has con- because they’re more ef- ogy, whereby a passenger
is still there and signs off on retina scans or fingerprint cerns that while the agency fective and efficient, al- isn’t handing over a docu-
the screening. matches have become says it’s not currently storing though he gave no time- ment to an agent. And he
A small sign alerts travel- more pervasive in both the the biometric data it col- line. envisioned a “checkpoint
ers that their photo will be private sector and the fed- lects, what if that changes Scott said he’d prefer TSA of the future” where a pas-
taken as part of the pilot eral government, it’s raised in the future? not use the technology at senger’s face can be used
and that they can opt out concerns among privacy And while people are al- all. At the least, he’d like to to check their bags, go
if they’d like. It also includes advocates about how this lowed to opt out, she said see an outside audit to ver- through the security check-
a QR code for them to get data is collected, who has it’s not fair to put the onus ify that the technology isn’t points and board the plane
more information. access to it and what hap- on harried passengers who disproportionally affecting — all with little to no need
Since it’s come out the pi- pens if it gets hacked. might be worried about certain groups and that the to pull out a boarding card
lot has come under scrutiny Meg Foster, a justice fel- missing their flight if they do. images are deleted imme- or ID documents.
by some elected officials low at Georgetown Univer- “They might be concerned diately. He acknowledged the pri-
and privacy advocates. In sity’s Center on Privacy and that if they object to face TSA says the goal of the vacy concerns and lack
a February letter to TSA, five Technology, said there are recognition, that they’re pilot is to improve the ac- of trust many people have
senators — four Democrats concerns about bias within going to be under further curacy of the identity veri- when it comes to giving
and an Independent who the algorithms of various fa- suspicion,” Foster said. fication without slowing biometric data to the fed-
is part of the Democratic cial recognition technolo- Jeramie Scott, with the down the speed at which eral government, but said
caucus — demanded the gies. Some have a harder Electronic Privacy Informa- passengers pass through in many ways the use of
agency stop the program, time recognizing faces of tion Center, said that while the checkpoints — a key is- biometrics is already deep-
saying: “Increasing biomet- minorities, for example. it’s voluntary now it might sue for an agency that sees ly embedded in society
ric surveillance of Ameri- And there’s the concern of not be for long. 2.4 million passengers daily. through the use of privately
cans by the government outside hackers figuring out He noted that David Peko- The agency said early re- owned technology.
represents a risk to civil lib- ways to hack into govern- ske, who heads TSA, said sults are positive and have “Technology is here to
erties and privacy rights.” ment systems for nefarious during a talk in April that shown no discernable dif- stay,” he said.q