Facial Recognition Is Coming To US Airports (theverge.com)

Facial recognition systems will be coming to U.S. airports in the very near future. "Customs and Border Protection first started testing facial recognition systems at Dulles Airport in 2015, then expanded the tests to New York's JFK Airport last year," reports The Verge. "Now, a new project is poised to bring those same systems to every international airport in America." From the report: Called Biometric Exit, the project would use facial matching systems to identify every visa holder as they leave the country. Passengers would have their photos taken immediately before boarding, to be matched with the passport-style photos provided with the visa application. If there's no match in the system, it could be evidence that the visitor entered the country illegally. The system is currently being tested on a single flight from Atlanta to Tokyo, but after being expedited by the Trump administration, it's expected to expand to more airports this summer, eventually rolling out to every international flight and border crossing in the U.S. U.S. Customs and Border Protection's Larry Panetta, who took over the airport portion of the project in February, explained the advantages of facial recognition at the Border Security Expo last week. "Facial recognition is the path forward we're working on," Panetta said at the conference. "We currently have everyone's photo, so we don't need to do any sort of enrollment. We have access to the Department of State records so we have photos of U.S. Citizens, we have visa photos, we have photos of people when they cross into the U.S. and their biometrics are captured into [DHS biometric database] IDENT."

Comments

Beard or no beard.

[psergiu]

Do you have a beard and you want to shave-it ?
Are-you planing to get a nice healthy tan for your white skin ?
Considering another hair colour or coloured contact lenses ?
If you need to fly, better reconsider until the software comparing the before & after photos gets at least a couple of updates :)

Re:Beard or no beard.

[Mitreya]

If you need to fly, better reconsider until the software comparing the before & after photos gets at least a couple of updates :)

Isn't it nice, that the guys running this system
1. Don't care how much they inconvenience you
2. Don't care how accurate the system is
3. Don't even care if it catches anyone, because clearly catching terrorists is not directly related to their job performance evaluation

The only thing they really care about is how much taxpayer money it will cost and maybe how much useful data it will generate for them.

So given the (theoretical) miracle of free market, where is non-TSA, pre-9-11 airport I can fly from?

Re:Beard or no beard.

[AHuxley]

Given unique distance data is gathered from all over the face e.g. the ears, eyes, facial hair would have been considered as one of the most easy ways to try and fool the systems over the decades of testing around the world.
In a very old system a person could try looking up, down, using a hat, very complex glasses, could try and bring a new hair style down over the face.
A human would quickly notice such attempts and ask the illegal migrant to look at the camera, remove the hat and ensure the system could get an image that matches entry to the USA.
This is not a CCTV image. Light, position, attempts at deceptive fashion, not been able to get a good image can all be taken into account and be corrected. A lot of funding and work has gone into getting a lot of information from any face in any image e.g. social media, CCTV, side on, a person looking up, down, left, right. More unique data is been capture from all over the face than in past attempts.

Re:Not so great for facial hair.

[rsilvergun]

Then you get extra scrutiny if you have a beard because, of course, you look like a threat.

This is America, so no change then?

I kid, kid.