America's TSA Begins Quietly Testing Facial Recognition Tech at 16 Airports (msn.com) 87
America's Transportation Security Administration "has been quietly testing controversial facial recognition technology for passenger screening at 16 major domestic airports — from Washington to Los Angeles," reports the Washington Post.
Their article adds that the agency "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.... You step up to the travel document checker kiosk and stick your ID into a machine. Then you look into a camera for up to five seconds and the machine compares your live photo to the one it sees on your ID. They call this a "one to one" verification system, comparing one face to one ID. Even though the software is judging if you're an impostor, there's still a human agent there to make the final call (at least for now).
So how accurate is it? The TSA says it's been better at verifying IDs than the manual process. "This technology is definitely a security enhancement," said [TSA program manager Jason] Lim. "We are so far very satisfied with the performance of the machine's ability to conduct facial recognition accurately...." But the TSA hasn't actually released hard data about how often its system falsely identifies people, through incorrect positive or negative matches. Some of that might come to light next year when the TSA has to make its case to the Department of Homeland Security to convert airports all over the United States into facial recognition systems....
The TSA says it doesn't use facial recognition for law-enforcement purposes. It also says it minimizes holding on to our face data, so it isn't using the scans to build out a new national database of face IDs. "The scanning and match is made and immediately overwritten at the Travel Document Checker podium. We keep neither the live photo nor the photo of the ID," said Lim. But the TSA did acknowledge there are cases in which it holds on to the data for up to 24 months so its science and technology office can evaluate the system's effectiveness....
"None of this facial recognition technology is mandated," said Lim. "Those who do not feel comfortable will still have to present their ID — but they can tell the officer that they do not want their photo taken, and the officer will turn off the live camera." There are also supposed to be signs around informing you of your rights.
Here's the TSA's web page about the program. Thanks to long-time Slashdot reader SonicSpike for sharing the article.
Their article adds that the agency "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.... You step up to the travel document checker kiosk and stick your ID into a machine. Then you look into a camera for up to five seconds and the machine compares your live photo to the one it sees on your ID. They call this a "one to one" verification system, comparing one face to one ID. Even though the software is judging if you're an impostor, there's still a human agent there to make the final call (at least for now).
So how accurate is it? The TSA says it's been better at verifying IDs than the manual process. "This technology is definitely a security enhancement," said [TSA program manager Jason] Lim. "We are so far very satisfied with the performance of the machine's ability to conduct facial recognition accurately...." But the TSA hasn't actually released hard data about how often its system falsely identifies people, through incorrect positive or negative matches. Some of that might come to light next year when the TSA has to make its case to the Department of Homeland Security to convert airports all over the United States into facial recognition systems....
The TSA says it doesn't use facial recognition for law-enforcement purposes. It also says it minimizes holding on to our face data, so it isn't using the scans to build out a new national database of face IDs. "The scanning and match is made and immediately overwritten at the Travel Document Checker podium. We keep neither the live photo nor the photo of the ID," said Lim. But the TSA did acknowledge there are cases in which it holds on to the data for up to 24 months so its science and technology office can evaluate the system's effectiveness....
"None of this facial recognition technology is mandated," said Lim. "Those who do not feel comfortable will still have to present their ID — but they can tell the officer that they do not want their photo taken, and the officer will turn off the live camera." There are also supposed to be signs around informing you of your rights.
Here's the TSA's web page about the program. Thanks to long-time Slashdot reader SonicSpike for sharing the article.
Re: horrible idea, screw these people (Score:2)
Re:horrible idea, screw these people (Score:5, Insightful)
Can you explain why you think it a terrible idea?
Often the biggest complaint about facial recognition is doing a one in many search. Have a photo of an unknown, look through oodles of photos of known people to find a match.
That is a very hard problem, and yes, often not as accurate as many would like, doubly so when there are allegations of racial bias.
That's not what this system is, it's a one to one, "is the person standing in front of the machine who they proport to be?", which has a much much much higher accuracy rate than a one in many.
What is wrong with that?
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You'd be surprised how many of those cameras are privately owned. I've happily assisted law enforcement when they've come knocking to see if I had a recording of a porch pirate. I've even volunteered video to them when I reported someone backing into a light pole then driving off. Last week I had some words with a neighbor because a couple of her grandkids stole some stuff from my property to build their fort, not knowing about my trail cameras monitoring big game.
We live in a society where people like to p
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Nope, her kids & grandkids came by a short time later and apologized. It was a very present chat with much friendliness. The husband even noted one of my cameras and asked if it was a specific model, there began a longer discussion as to what systems we both use.
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You already bought a ticket. They know who you are and can cross-check your info against any number of databases, then detain you when you arrive since they know when you'll be coming. I think that's already been happening (I think I recall it was at the Atlanta airport?) where travelers were intercepted and arrested for outstanding warrants while trying to board flights.
All this does is replace the agent at the entr
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"The ability to lie doesn't only help violent criminals. It can help people fleeing an abusive spouse with law enforcement/PI connections."
The is way more common than the average folks thinks. I have seen this time and time again in my lifetime from both victims of police abusers and police abusers boasting about their ability to do so.
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Remember, 40% of cops ...
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"Remember, 40% of cops"...
- A study found that 40 percent of cops reported having participated in domestic violence in the previous years.
- Which profession has the highest domestic abuse rate? Police Officers.
- AP: Across US, police officers abuse confidential databases https://apnews.com/article/699... [apnews.com]
Yet some clowns posting here have no problem giving away more of our privacy rights.
As Ben Franklin once said: "Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve nei
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They know who you are, but they don't have enough different facial scans to increase the reliability of picking you out. That's the purpose.
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This is not about picking people out of a crowd (Score:2)
Yes it is. Just not at the airport, today, for validating you for the one flight. The more different pics of you as reference, the better the algorithm will identify you later at a protest. Police were filming BLM protests for that reason, for example.
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If you have Global Entry, you may not have to show any papers or any card on entry. You just show your face to the machine. That's it, assuming it recognizes you. I assume it's doing a one-against-a-few-thousand match (they know who should have arrived from another country at that airport).
It's possible the also have a human confirming the matches.
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That's my guess as well. There are more advanced systems like Clear. I'd be curious to know if it looks up scanned biometics against all it has on file or figures who is likely to be flying that day.
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How is that any different than a human doing it?
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I'd wager your phone already does that.
They also know when your name is on the manifest of a flight, how is that any different?
If you are concerned about them having such a record, perhaps you should push for legislation to limit the retention period like the gun lobby did long ago [cornell.edu]. If you go buy a firearm today from an FFL in a state which only uses the federal system and the background check comes back ok, then "all identifying information submitted by or on behalf of the transferee will be destroyed with
Re:horrible idea, screw these people (Score:4, Insightful)
I'm not required to carry a phone and have it turned on whilst traveling. If there are no ID checks, you can lie about name/DOB on manifest.
The point is that the shithole country known as the US will never have meaningful privacy legislation. In any case, it's better not to create the data than rely on a legal pinky-swear that it will surely be deleted.
9/11 and post-COVID crime hysteria have turned into a nation of fucking COWARDS that will accept any invasion for a perception of safety.
I'm glad that I'm a dual US/EU citizen and that I can get the fuck out of America. I'll yip for joy the day I renounce my citizenship.
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Yours seems to be an argument about identify verification period, not the use of AI to do so, which was the complaint of the OP.
To your point though... wouldn't that defeat the purpose of 'no fly lists'?
Yes, they are fraught with issues where even a sitting US Senator can find themselves on it... the argument from the feds has always been that they are part of a defense in depth strategy.
Of course, the airlines love requiring photo id, as it means the secondary market for airplane tickets no longer exists a
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In fact, the only instances of aviation terrorism in Europe recently were:
* Perpetrated by a legitimate pilot, in the case of Germanwings
* Perpetrated by catering staff, in the case of Metrojet (non EU)
* Shot down by a surface-air missile in the case of MH17 (again, non EU)
* Diverted by government action in the case of Ryanair 4978 (don't overfly Belarus!)
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You are always free to charter a plane and pilot to take you where you want to go. The 'no fly' lists are primarily for the safety of other passengers in the event someone is one of those lunatics that get into mid-air fights with the cabin crew or tries to pop an emergency exit open during the takeoff roll.
The same rules don't apply to charter flights. You can bring a gun onboard if you wish. You can even shoot wolves from aircraft, just like Sarah Palin.
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Right. You're always free (to do something expensive and impractical for most people) to get around the surveillance state and have freedom that we enjoyed even 25 years ago.
Also, the no-fly lists were created with one purpose ... to prevent known terrorists from flying. "Anyone who argued with an officious air waitron who's having a bad day" was added much later.
In any case ... the EU doesn't have the same strict requirements for "PAPERS PLEASE, OINK! WHEEEE!" whilst flying, yet planes aren't falling out
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In any case ... the EU doesn't have the same strict requirements
Yes they do. Go through German boarding security (equivalent of our TSA). Often there's a guy standing there with an H&K MP5.
To the EU's credit, they operate their customs on an honor system to a greater degree than we do*. But they take security seriously. And they have had problems with unruly passengers just as we have. Not to mention the odd suicidal copilot.
*Our TSA officers are the equivalent of mall cops. Our CBP officers are heavily armed and they have all the sniffer dogs. In the EU, the dogs
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"There is nothing positive or OK about normalizing this type of technology."
That machine doesn't suffer from the 'they all look the same to me'-syndrome that humans do.
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another step (Score:1)
It's been going on a long time,,,
from 1967 {Simon & Garfunle's "Mrs Robinson"]
And here's to you, Mrs. Robinson Jesus loves you more than you will know
Opt out... for now (Score:3)
Yeah just like the millimeter wave scanners these will be opt out until they no longer are. The opt-out phase is just the ability to quash it, once they're past that phase the opt-out part disappears and they get a lot more demanding and bitchy.
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The way to opt out of those scanners is to get TSA Pre or Global Entry [Global Entry includes TSA Pre]. The TSA pre lines don't generally use the millimeter wave scanners.
Re:Opt out... for now (Score:4, Insightful)
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Always "for now"... your nightmare of it being compelled still hasn't happened.
Even before I had TSA PreCheck, I always refused to use the scanner, no matter how long I had to wait for a pat down. I do not feel it appropriate to have to raise my hands in a show of submission to prove my non-threating nature to the government without them having a more substantive reason to suspect me.
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Better freedom to travel without being databased than security. But of course, the "Land of the Free, Home of the Brave" is really the "Land of the Incarcerated, Hope of the Cowards." Yep. May GERD bless America.
Not that planes are falling out of the sky or being hijacked regularly in countries that don't check PAPERS PLEASE! (OINK! OINK!)
Here we go again (Score:3)
It seems that Slashdot has spawned a new Web phenomenon. In addition to "shit-posting" there is now "shit-modding", and the downmods of the the first two comments are a prime example of this anti-social practice. Sure, there's always been a bit of that here, but lately it's reached epidemic proportions.
Re:Here we go again (Score:4, Informative)
The first poster has terrible karma, so all their posts start at -1. The first post has since been modded up to zero by somebody at the time of writing.
I believe that - not... (Score:4, Insightful)
... it isn't using the scans to build out a new national database of face IDs
Weasel words. In the first place they say they aren't creating a new national database, so they may be creating local ones which could then be amalgamated into a national one. In the second place, does anybody who's been paying attention really believe that a government agency could possibly resist collecting all that biometric data?
It occurs to me that there's an additional question here, namely, how secure is that data against hackers?
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> a new national database, so they may be creating local ones
How 'bout international?
Haven't we had these in Europe for years? (Score:5, Informative)
Much though I can fret about "Big Brother" as well as the next Slashdoter, I really can't see what additional personal information the Government is acquiring here. They already know what your face looks like because they have the photo on your government issues ID (e.g. passport or driving licence). Also, if you are passing through an airport then this information also already exists. When - if ever - were you able to take a flight as anonymously as you can a bus?
The automatic passport gates I have used (mostly in the UK and Finland) tend to work fairly well. Some people aren't permitted to use them (for example children) and for these people there is always a human who can do a manual check. If the machine doesn't get a match (has happened to me a few times) then an operative simply directs you over to manual checking queue.
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Solving What? (Score:2)
> The TSA says it's been better at verifying IDs than the manual process. "This technology is definitely a security enhancement,"
What security incidents were caused by human failure?
PAPERS PLEASE! OINK OINK! (Score:2)
If the flight deck door is locked and physical security is good enough to make reasonably certain that no one is carrying anything dangerous, why does it matter who a passenger is?
This is just a domestic passport system combined with a sop to the fat cats in the airline C-suites - makes reselling tickets more difficult.
Just landed (Score:2)
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Why not just give up on ID checks for domestic flights? The flight deck door is reinforced, we have mmWave scanners and 3-D bag scanners. If the technology is good enough to make sure that people aren't bringing anything dangerous on board, what difference does it make who they are? (From a standpoint of aviation security vs a cop dragnet hoping to catch anyone with warrants or immigration wants.)
The EU is much laxer about ID checks for intra-EU flights, and planes aren't dropping out of the sky left and
Re: Just landed (Score:2)
This has not matched my experience (Score:2)
If you read the actual TSA documents there are so many weasel words its not even funny. We'll only save information and only f
Land of the free! (Score:2)
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More stupid and stupidly expensive theatre (Score:1)
The TSA says it doesn't use facial recognition for (Score:2)
The TSA is a law enforcement agency. They are authorized to inspect documents, luggage, and persons AND have the authority to detain individuals. If that does not describe a law enforcement agency, what does?
Other LEOs, armed with weapons including firearms, are on the ready to arrest individuals that are detain if the USA determines that they should be arrested.
If that does not describe a law enforcement agency, what does?
This is bullshit (Score:2)
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This isn't socialism. This is authoritarianism. Democratic countries that lean more socialist (i.e. most of Western Europe) don't cram this crap down citizens' craws as hard.
If you fought in Iraq, you fought for Big Oil and for Bush the Lesser's ego ... he wanted to finish what his daddy started in Iraq. I'm sorry that you got duped into participating in that shitshow.
The problem is that the US united behind war and expansion of the surveillance state after 9/11, and anyone critical of that BS was shut d
saw this (Score:1)
I flew out of Salt Lake City this week and they had them. You stick your DL in a reader that sucks it in and kicks it out. During this they take a photos with what looks like an iPad. I was looking down at the reader while they took the picture, so mine ended up taking a picture of the top of my nose and head. The TSA agent said "Thank-you, please proceed." I'm not sure it was actually working.
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AUS (Score:2)
Australia was already doing this back in 2017 when I traveled there except the machine took your passport and then your pic before giving you your passport back. There wasn't an "opt-out" option aside from opting not to go into the country.
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Verification vs recognition (Score:2)
Face verification is much easier than face recognition. Verification just means are you who you say you are. Recognition means who are you.
Verification is not that much of a threat, because if implemented as such it cannot be used to say hmm, you look like the guy who did that bank robbery, off with your head!
On the other hand, the data collected could be used for just that, so caveat emptor.
Refuse to fly and be vocal about why (Score:2)
Vote with your wallet
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GlobalEntry (Score:2)
GobalEntry is doing the facial recognition for a while and it's excellent:
Get out of a long international flight.
Everybody else queues up on the looong lines for immigration control for passport check.
You walk up to a kiosk with with no line of people waiting in front of it.
Take your hat/glasses off, so you look like in the passport photo.
You touch your language selection on the screen.
A camera window shows up and you need to move you head around to fit your face inside the head-shape line on the screen.
A c