DHS: Travelers traveling by plane on international flights from airports of USA they will soon have to undergo a facial scan before boarding their plane
The security measure is part of a new US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) program launched in the summer of 2016, when DHS worked with the two airline companies Delta and JetBlue to introduce systems recognitionof a person on international flights.
Face scanning will help both airlines and CBP agents (US Customs and Border Protection)
Travelers are supposed to be sitting in front of a camera scanning their faces and storing their image before boarding their airplane. The system will compare facial scanning with passport photos or other passenger images to see if they match the identity of the person recorded on each flight manifest.
Delta and JetBlue companies report that the specific program θα επιταχύνει τους ελέγχους επιβίβασης. Αντίγραφα των φωτογραφιών θα αποστέλλονται επίσης στο σύστημα Τελωνειακής και Συνοριακής Προστασίας ή Customs and Border Protection (CBP) των ΗΠΑ που εντοπίζει ανθρώπους με πλαστά διαβατήρια ή ή με διαβατήρια που έχουν λήξει.
Tests for this new face scanning system have been made by 2016 at Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Houston, New York and Washington airports on selected international flights.
The system is supposed to not sweep American citizens. But it does.
DHS, through CBP, has already collected fingerprints and photos from foreigners entering the US from 2004.
Congress and the Obama administration have approved the extension of this biometric data collection program to include travelers entering and leaving the US, air, sea and land.
Congress, and later President Trump via a executive order, stated that this program should not include US citizens. However, the tests carried out by DHS since June of 2016 have also swept American travelers.
According to a DHS report on the progress of the program, the ministry is reportedly aware that they are sweeping American citizens' faces, as opposed to the executive order of Congress and President Trump.
"If a U.S. citizen requests not to participate in TVS [Traveler Service], his or her identity can be verified by an available CBP Officer through manual processing," the agency said in a report in May, implicitly acknowledging that individuals American citizens are being scanned en masse.
Criticism of the program from US citizens and groups protectionof privacy did not appear to have an impact on the DHS program, which issued an inhumane response stating that those who do not want their faces scanned should not travel.
"The only way for a person to ensure that he or she does not collect biometric information when traveling internationally is to avoid traveling," DHS said.
The system will become permanent by 2018
The face scanning system is scheduled to officially launch 2018 with more airline partners. The system will also be extended to US ports and land borders. DHS reported that scanned photos are automatically deleted from their system after 14 days.
Of course we should mention that government agencies in the past have used the database of US citizens without permission. The FBI he used one of these databases to identify criminals.
Face scans are not considered to be the most accurate biometric identification methods, and many claim that misidentifications may destroy many people's travel plans, or that some would automatically enter the US entry ban list.
