Facial recognition touted as 'user friendly' system for airports
Facial recognition touted as 'user friendly' system for
airports
September 8, 2018 by Rob Lever
As facial recognition technology use generates intense
scrutiny, a new system unveiled at Washington's Dulles airport is being touted
as a "user friendly" way to help ease congestion for air travelers.
Officials at Dulles unveiled two new face recognition
systems Thursday, one to meet legal requirements for biometric entry-exit
records, and a second to help speed processing of travelers arriving on
international flights by matching their real-time images with stored photos.
The growing use of facial recognition has ignited debate
over surveillance and privacy around the world, but officials told media this
system was a way to help reducing annoying lines and wait times without
compromising security.
"The technology works," US Customs and Border
Protection Commissioner Kevin McAleenan told reporters at an airport unveiling.
"It's fast, it's user-friendly, it's flexible and
it's cost-effective. And we believe it will change the face of international
travel."
Over time, officials say the biometric recognition system
will allow a traveler's face to eliminate the need for a boarding pass.
"No more fumbling with your boarding pass when you
have two carry-ons, maybe a kid, no more trying to find a QR code or trying the
refresh your screen," McAleenan said.
In one test for the system, McAleenan said the boarding of
350 passengers for an Airbus A380 aircraft was completed in 20 minutes, or half
the normal time.
At Dulles, officials showed how the new systems, operated
with iPads mounted on poles, identified and matched the image of travelers
during the boarding process.
Aiming for speed, security
The system is designed to boost security by ensuring that
travelers are using their real passports and not forged documents, matching to
existing photos from passports or images collected from foreign nationals when
they enter.
The Dulles system began operations in mid-August, ahead
of the media event, and within three days was credited with the arrest of a man
attempting to use a fake passport to enter the United States.
The 26-year-old man traveling from Sao Paulo, Brazil
sought to enter with a French passport but the facial comparison biometric
system determined he was not a match to the passport he presented.
A search revealed the man's authentic Republic of Congo
identification card concealed in his shoe.
Officials claim the new systems are being developed only
for the boarding and entry process and not being tied to other databases for
law enforcement surveillance.
"We are not collecting or retaining any new
data," McAleenan said.
"We need to confirm that the party travelers are who
they say they are."
Dulles is one of 14 "early adopter airports"
using facial recognition technology for the entry process.
McAleenan said that because the new system uses only its
own images and passport photos, its accuracy rate is "99 percent."
"We are not seeing significant difference across
gender or race," he added.
The CPB system was developed within the agency, part of
the Department of Homeland Security, with unspecified technology partners,
according to McAleenan.
Privacy activists say there are few safeguards on facial
recognition databases used and that the technology evokes fears of a "Big
Brother" surveillance state, pointing to China, where law enforcement has
been aggressively deploying these systems.
The American Civil Liberties Union has on numerous
occasions opposed airport deployment of facial recognition, claiming problems
with effectiveness and accuracy, among other things.
ACLU policy analyst Jay Stanley warns that the deployment
"normalizes face recognition as a checkpoint technology" and could
eventually lead to "mission creep."
"We've seen these technologies spread from airports
and now they are used in all kinds of venues, including in some high
schools," Stanley told AFP.
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