A new report by Georgetown's Center on Privacy & Technology claims Americans are being subject to biometric face scans at 9 major airports in the U.S., without any discussion or explanation.
It's happening at Boston's Logan airport and elsewhere.
"In Atlanta, Chicago, Las Vegas, Miami, New York City, Houston, and Washington, D.C., travelers departing on certain international flights have their faces scanned by DHS," says the report.
It's called a biometric exit program which grabs your biometrics as you exit the country.
Apparently it is designed to stop travelers posing as someone they are not. And there are efforts to increase this approach.
"If DHS’ current plans are executed, every traveler flying overseas, American and foreign national alike, will soon be subject to a face recognition scan as part of this 'biometric exit' program," say the Georgetown legal experts who authored the report.
"DHS’ biometric exit program also stands on shaky legal ground. Congress has repeatedly ordered the collection of biometrics from foreign nationals at the border, but has never clearly authorized the border collection of biometrics from American citizens using face recognition technology. Without explicit authorization, DHS should not be scanning the faces of Americans as they depart on international flights—but DHS is doing it anyway."
And there are question about how accurate the biometrics program is:
"According to DHS’ own data, DHS’ face recognition systems erroneously reject as many as 1 in 25 travelers using valid credentials. At this high rate, DHS’ error-prone face scanning system could cause 1,632 passengers to be wrongfully delayed or denied boarding every day at New York’s John F. Kennedy (JFK) International Airport alone."
Read the entire report on U.S. airport biometrics and let us know what you think. Does this kind of technology protect us - or invade our privacy?
Photo Credit: Boston Globe