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Over the past few months, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has moved forward with some pretty significant changes at its security checkpoints at airports throughout the country, highlighted by its expanded use of facial recognition technology.
While these changes have led to some privacy concerns and some warnings from some whistleblowers and experts, a security expert recently spoke to me to explain how the changes have made the security screening process more efficient and effective while also clearing up some misconceptions regarding any privacy concerns.
Facial Recognition Sparks Concerns
Over the past few months, the TSA has been gradually expanding its use of facial recognition technology at its airport security checkpoints throughout the country, but not everyone is sold on the technology.
Some security experts have expressed concern about how the data is stored and used, as well as about the rights of travelers to opt out of the technology. Travis LeBlanc, a lawyer and a former member of the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board, recently urged travelers to opt out of the facial recognition technology.
Additionally, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have put forward legislation that aims to protect Americans’ ability to opt out of TSA facial recognition screenings at airports and prevent abuse of passenger data.
New Technology Improves Safety, Expert Says
Given all the controversy and conversation surrounding this new technology, we decided to speak to security expert Jake Parker, who is the Senior Director of Government Relations of the Security Industry Association (SIA), to clarify some things.
One of the primary things Parker stressed was just how much the new technology improves security. In the past, passenger identification was verified manually by a TSA agent. This process involved a human verifying the validity of a form of identification and then comparing the photo to the face of the person standing in front of them, all with just their eyes.
Within the past several years, technology has improved to allow the TSA to verify the validity of an ID card with a machine instead of by hand, helping the agency crack down on false or invalid forms of identification. However, this still required an agent to manually verify that the ID matched the traveler, causing a security limitation.
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“That only gets you so far,” Parker told me during a recent phone interview. “So you could have someone who say, is on the terrorist watchlist, obtain a legitimate ID, but under a false identity, and they still might match that identity.”
The new facial recognition technology allows for more effective screening, using more objective biometric data to ensure that the form of identification matches the person attempting to use it. Additionally, Parker said that this information can be compared to the terror watchlist to potentially catch high-risk individuals.
“You’re catching what they call impostors – people who are traveling with false documents or false identities, whether they’re on the watchlist or not,” Parker said.
Parker said that since the program began, around 2,500 of these “impostors” have been caught thanks to the new technology.
Technology Improves Efficiency, Too
While the new technology offers major security benefits, as Parker explained, it also has the potential to make the entire screening process much faster and more efficient, too.
The TSA recently rolled out TSA PreCheck Touchless ID at several airports throughout the country. This new technology allows eligible passengers to have their identity verified through facial recognition technology without even having to present their physical IDs.
“That’s actually one of the more exciting developments is the frictionless ID for TSA pre-check where all you have to do is just use your face, and it basically matches your face to your stored information,” Parker said. “You don’t even have to pull out your boarding pass or ID or anything.”
While I have not used the new technology myself, I did witness it in action during a recent trip through Seattle, and I was stunned at how fast the line moved. On average, the TSA PreCheck Touchless ID line moved about four times as fast as even the standard TSA PreCheck line.
It’s very clear that facial recognition technology has a chance to greatly improve speed and efficiency at airport security checkpoints.
Clearing Up Misconceptions
While the technology has obvious positives, there are still the aforementioned privacy concerns. However, Parker thinks those concerns stem from misconceptions about how the technology works.
Parker claims that not much has actually changed since all the new technology does is compare a snapshot of the traveler’s image against data and information that the government already has.
“Really, from a privacy perspective, there isn’t really anything new going on here that would change your privacy expectations or you know alter anything there because this is just basically verifying information that the government already has about your traveland yourself,” Parker said. “So really, there’s nothing new. It’s just a quicker and more efficient, and more accurate way to do a verification.”
As far as the data obtained from the facial scan, the TSA insists that the data is not stored.
“Photos are not stored or saved after a positive ID match has been made, except in a limited testing environment for evaluation of the effectiveness of the technology,” TSA states on its website.
If you are still uneasy about the technology for any reason, all travelers are allowed to opt out of the facial recognition technology. However, it seems pretty clear that the TSA is looking to expand the use of this technology in the coming years.
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