In 2023 It Will Be Nearly Impossible to Avoid Facial Recognition in the U.S.

As more airports in the United States adopt facial recognition technology, the privacy of Americans is once again threatened.

In early December, The Washington Post reported that the U.S. Transportation Security Administration is beginning to test new facial recognition tools at 16 major domestic airports. The WaPo reported:

The Transportation Security Administration has been quietly testing controversial facial recognition technology for passenger screening at 16 major domestic airports — from Washington to Los Angeles — and hopes to expand it across the United States as soon as next year. Kiosks with cameras are doing a job that used to be completed by humans: checking the photos on travelers’ IDs to make sure they’re not impostors.

TSA representative Jason Lim told the Post that “none of this facial recognition technology is mandated.” Passengers choosing to opt out of the face identification will still need to present their ID. The TSA also said there are supposed to be signs around informing you of your rights.

The report goes on to inform the reader that although you technically don’t have to participate in facial recognition at the airport, “whether you’ll feel like you have a real choice is a separate question.”

Albert Fox Cahn, founder of the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project, or STOP, told the Post that he believes there is “no place more coercive to ask people for their consent than an airport.”

“What we often see with these biometric programs is they are only optional in the introductory phases — and over time we see them becoming standardized and nationalized and eventually compulsory,” Cahn said.

Cahn’s statements ring true in light of previous TSA programs which start out as optional before becoming mandatory, including taking your shoes off at the airport and choosing between walking through the body scanner machines or an invasive pat down.

The TSA’s facial recognition works by having passengers step up to the travel document checker kiosk while they scan their identification card. Then passengers are expected to stare into a camera for up to five seconds while the machine compares the ID to the new photo. This is known as a “one to one” verification system.

The Post notes that the TSA’s facial recognition pilot began at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) in August 2020 based on alleged concerns of transmission of COVID-19.

While the TSA claims they do not use facial recognition for law-enforcement purposes and are not building a “new national database of face IDs,” they also acknowledge that the agency can hold data for up to 24 months to “evaluate the system’s effectiveness.”

Unfortunately, the introduction of facial recognition tools is not new. The Biden admin’s current expansion of facial recognition in the U.S. is a continuation of policies set forth by the Trump administration.

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