Can the Government scan you right now? Yes they can.

[icymist]

Airlines Should Decline to Participate in the Government’s Airport Face Recognition Program

Last week, we wrote about U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP)’s plans to apply face recognition to every traveler who exits the country, including Americans. One aspect of the scheme that we did not discuss was the role of the airlines. The airlines’ participation is significant because without it, the plan could not go forward, or at a minimum, its implementation would be significantly hampered.

Given their role, the airlines have a responsibility to ensure that customers’ rights are respected, yet they have not taken even some basic steps to fulfill this obligation. Until they have taken these steps—and received assurances from CBP that the agency will abide by certain privacy standards —they should not participate in these programs.

What is the role of the airlines?

CBP has launched a “Traveler Verification Service” (TVS) that envisions applying face recognition to all airline passengers, including U.S. citizens, boarding flights exiting the United States. JetBlue and Delta have been working closely with CBP on the plan. “Delta is always willing to partner with the CBP,” a Delta spokesperson said in a corporate press release that also quoted a CBP official. JetBlue, in its press release announcing its intention to “collaborate” with CBP on the program, said it hoped to “make the boarding process simple and seamless for the traveler while enhancing U.S. national security.”

According to a DHS briefing that we attended last week, the agency is still working out which tasks will be performed by airlines’ personnel—including whether the government or the airlines will own and operate the cameras that perform the face matching. In the Jetblue pilot, DHS says that the airline owns and operates the cameras, and DHS is in conversations with Delta about a similar arrangement. DHS also says the airlines do not keep copies of the photos for their own use, but that there’s nothing stopping them if they decide to start doing so.

https://www.aclu.org/blog/free-future/airlines-should-decline-participate-governments-airport-face-recognition-program

[Redlineoverdrive]

1. Put your tin foil hat away!

They are looking out for our safety. stopping terror attacks and hijackings daily! They would never keep tabs on us lowly civilians...