Face Scanning In US Airports Is Rife With Technical Problems (engadget.com)

Homeland Security's Inspector General has issued a report warning that its airport face scanning system is struggling with "technical and operational challenges." The report says that Customs and Border Protection "could only use the technology with 85 percent of passengers due to staff shortages, network problems and hastened boarding times during flight delays," reports Engadget. "The system did catch 1,300 people overstaying their allowed time in the U.S., but it might have caught more -- and there were problems 'consistently' matching people from specific age groups and countries." From the report: The watchdog also pointed out uncertainty about help from airlines, such as requiring them buy the cameras needed for taking passengers' photos. That represents a "significant point failure" for the face scanning system, the Inspector General said. As a result, the oversight body warned that Homeland Security might not make its target of having the face scanning system completely ready for use in the top 20 US airports by 2021.

Comments

Is this really an unexpected outcome...?

[Arethan]

Honestly, the US government is well known to blow a ton of cash on flawed technology implementations, even if the specific tech itself is otherwise well established and durable. They bought a recognition technology that doesn't work because #reason -- chalk it up to more wasted spending. The company engaged likely has some political or nepotist tie somewhere. /shrug

Re:Is this really an unexpected outcome...?

[Sir_Eptishous]

Aren't the ones doing the implementations private companies though? Private companies that bid on getting lucrative contracts? Private companies who know they can and will milk the govt for all its worth?

So sure, you can blame the govt, but the private sector, who has no skin in the game and has a huge straw sucking all the taxpayer money away to line the pockets of their greedy boardmembers and shareholders are just as much to blame.

They don't call it pork for nothing.

Re:Overstaying their time? In an airport?

[misnohmer]

How did you "overstayed at the airport" from "...overstaying their allowed time in the U.S...,."??? In a rush to post a comment and never bothered reading the rest of the sentence?

Why is this a headline?

[Puls4r]

This just in! New face scanning technology isn't perfect, hasn't been perfectly deployed, and can still be improved. Airports are understaffed, and it's just not perfect. News at 11!

Talking points

[Arzaboa]

Now that the hardware is in, you define "points of failure." The industry isn't 100% behind you. The people don't want to have their pictures taken. Change the conversation from "do you want this hardware," to "do you want it to work correctly or just sit and waste money?"

Just another step in a fairly quick shift to lives monitored by systems and reported on by algorithms.

--
Who controls the past controls the future - George Orwell

How much per person?

[ugen]

So 1300 people overstaying their visa (leaving the US at that point, as well - unless we want to put them in jail?). And almost 200 million spent on that program in 2017 alone (with 1 billion planned by 2025) What's the cost per visa overstayer? And what is the benefit to us, as a nation (other than another pork barrel for the DHS and their contractors)

Re:How much per person?

[AHuxley]

The USA gets to join other advanced nations with a normal legal system to ensure it can count every person legally allowed to work and stay in the USA. As they enter the USA and when they return to their own nations.
No more staying days or longer in the USA without a legal reason.
The benefit to the USA is a return to the rule of law.

People on holiday know they have to return to their own nations within a time they understood before entering the USA.
In the US for an education? Don't overstay and don't get a job unless that's approved.
When the approved education has ended, time to return.

The other great part of this is once a person is detected overstaying the motivations of that person in the USA is now fully understood by the US gov.

Re:How much per person?

[DNS-and-BIND]

Good idea, let's brainstorm some ideas about how to make sure people go back home when their visas are up. A visitor visa isn't permission to stay here forever. We can't keep being an attractive nuisance with our lax enforcement. Too many people who are badly needed in their home countries aren't there to contribute.

Re:How much per person?

[Anonymous Coward]

The USA gets to join other advanced nations with a normal legal system to ensure it can count every person legally allowed to work and stay in the USA. As they enter the USA and when they return to their own nations.

No more staying days or longer in the USA without a legal reason.

Who gives a shit? Seriously, make a case for me to care about this, because I'm not seeing what the big deal is and not many people do, which is why you have so much resistance to "fixing" it.

It's up there with auto ticketing people for speeding a mile over the limit, or for walking past a don't walk on grass sign, or stopping in a no standing area, rolling right turn on red, or any other infraction that people generally get away with every day that don't amount to a hill of beans. It just seems petty, and "it's the law" is not good enough for petty bullshit, it's not good enough to justify red light cameras that do nothing but ticket people for right turns, it's not good enough to justify obvious speed traps or any other stupid games we play to basically bully people for no societal benefit.

The other great part of this is once a person is detected overstaying the motivations of that person in the USA is now fully understood by the US gov

... motivation is they want to stay longer than they said they would? Good job detective, gosh, how would we have figured that out.

Re:How much per person?

[bickerdyke]

People on holiday know they have to return to their own nations within a time they understood before entering the USA.

A few times it wasn't that easy to explain the CBP office that concept..... like that you might want to return back home after a holiday...

Re:How much per person?

[mjwx]

So 1300 people overstaying their visa (leaving the US at that point, as well - unless we want to put them in jail?). And almost 200 million spent on that program in 2017 alone (with 1 billion planned by 2025) What's the cost per visa overstayer? And what is the benefit to us, as a nation (other than another pork barrel for the DHS and their contractors)

Hi there, I'm Troy Mclure, you may remember me from such propaganda films such as, "Brown, the colour out to get you" and "Justifiable Homicide III: My Lai"

Well first of all, we don't call them "visa overstayers", that term is too PC and not alarmist enough. It gives people the impression that it's just someone who's stayed on holiday a few days past when they're meant to. We are supposed to call them "illegal economic immigrants". The economic part doesn't mean anything, it just scares people and that is a good thing TM. Now this is important as it allows us to keep expensive programs going to which funnels hard working American Taxpayer dollars into the private accounts of rich businessmen in the Cayman Islands. Doing otherwise would simply be comunazomuslism... Do you want to be a pinko? I didn't think so, now drink your LSD laden cool aid and stop questioning your government superiors.

Re:Overstaying their time? In an airport?

[AHuxley]

People get to enter the USA for a set time. After that time they should exit the USA as was set out when allowed to enter the USA.
Using face scanning the USA can finally count every face that entered the USA legally and when they returned back to their own nations.
The time and date is very easy to understand and is set. Most other advanced nations have the same methods to then find and remove all people who overstay.

Re:what?

[AHuxley]

AC Their ability to stay in the USA in no longer legal and valid. So they are found and returned to their own nations.

Becaus3

[Impy the Impiuos Imp]

"Because terrorism!"

Almost 20 years later, a panopticon severed from it.

Re:Overstay

[AHuxley]

Thats work taken from a US citizen. Work taken from a person legally allowed to be working in the USA.

Re:Overstaying their time? In an airport?

[rtb61]

Come on, you overstayed and you are at the international airport about to board a plane to leave the country and you arrest them, why, just fucking why?!?

My concern especially with junk yard dog US law enforcers, is how secure are they, how hackable are they, did they even bother to secure them. One hack and that family boarding a flight are not terrorist and in the US that is extremely serious and dangerous, they are very likely to get shot, regardless of age or gender, just trigger happy fuckwits emptying their entire magazine into them because yeah, they are carrying phones on other things in their hand, that police all over world recognise but US law enforcers, whether they recognise them or call, claim they looked like guns, they felt threatened and they shot them as many times as they could, yeah mainly for the thrill kill and not because of fear.

So what has been to secure facial recognition systems to prevent hacking and false warnings and in the most the world being arrested and detained and missing your flight and in the US being shot and missing your life.

my experience

[religionofpeas]

I used the kiosk face scanner one time. The problem was that the camera was positioned at the top of the kiosk so you had to look up, but the button to take the picture was at the bottom. It was almost impossible to take a good picture that way.

Re:what?

[bickerdyke]

But doing so you don't have to pass a border patrol checkpoint where they scan your passport and face.

Re:Overstaying their time? In an airport?

[spitzak]

I think everybody is asking how useful it is to detect people overstaying *when they are leaving*!!!

You seem rather butt hurt that somebody might question this. It has nothing to do with whether enforcement of immigration is a good or bad idea.

A better explanation without your misconception of what is being asked: 1. it is useful for getting a count of how much overstaying is happening (huge amounts btw, many times the number of people sneaking across the border). 2. It could stop somebody who previously overstayed from entering again (ie they are detected the third time they are in the airport trying to get back in. 3. I think they could arrest you for overstaying, though that seems counter productive unless the person really was an extreme case.

Obviously this could be done with normal passport checking and not facial recognition, so it would be interesting to know if this is faster, more accurate, cheaper, or any other comparisons. Just saying a few thousand got caught does not tell me much.

If this was European pan optician facial recognition of everybody in the airport and not just travelers it might catch more. I can certainly see reasons that somebody overstaying would visit the airport, since they probably know some other people who are coming and going. But as far as I can tell they are not claiming they are doing that.

That's why I connect in Guatemala

[johnsie]

I've voted with my wallet and try to avoid the US when travelling transatlantic. The experience in US airports is usually horrible. Airports in other countries are often way more relaxed. I'd rather spend my money in countries that treat people with respect.

Re:That's why I connect in Guatemala

[DaMattster]

Security in the United States is nothing more than theater starring overzealous, badge-got-to-their-heads TSA screening agents whom, more often than not, miss critical items when searching luggage. Many TSA screening agents barely have a high school education and fewer still have advanced degrees. If we were serious about security, it would be professional. Instead, it's a dog and pony show.

Re:That's why I connect in Guatemala

[quintus_horatius]

I think that a higher base-education level, especially a bunch of Msc's or better*, would be able to put their heads together and come up with something better than the dog-and-pony show that we have now. They might come up with less intrusive methods that don't violate civil liberties and yet actually work.

With better methods in place, the people employed by the TSA would generally have more interest in their jobs and better motivation to do them well, and have better attitudes as a result. Feeling like they actually matter, and not feeling despised by the general population, would help as well.

*It's true that education does not guarantee intelligence but it does correlate pretty well.

Re:Typical of Trumps America

[DaMattster]

America is in decline due to Late Stage Capitalism. In Trump's perfect America, there will be the rubbish people and the wealthy; not talking about white trash because there will no longer be any racial element, only class.