TSA now wants to scan your face at security. Here are your rights.

Next time you go to the airport, make sure to look into a camera. Your face will be analyzed by the TSA.

The Transportation Security Administration has quietly tested facial recognition technology for passenger screening at 16 major domestic airports, and hopes to expand it across the United States as soon as next year. Humans used to do the job of checking the photos on travelers' IDs, but kiosks with cameras are now doing it.

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San Francisco is one of the cities where facial recognition is not allowed. Civil rights ramifications we still don't understand are brought to one of the most stressed parts of travel.

I wanted to know what our rights are after hearing concerns from Washington Post readers who encountered face scans while traveling. Everybody wants better safety, but is it really safe?

The program formally known as Credential Authentication Technology with Camera (CAT-2) is run by the Transportation Security Administration. Albert Fox Cahn is one of the biggest critics of facial recognition.

The TSA has put some constraints on its use of facial recognition, but it's just the beginning.

You don't have to show your face at the airport. It's not a question of whether you have a real choice or not.

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How facial recognition works in the military.

In the wake of the 9/11 attacks, American airports have been experimenting with new technologies. Customs collects information from passengers entering the US I used face scans to replace boarding passes for international flights in 2019. Concerns about covid transmission through contact in August 2020 led to the start of the TSA's facial recognition pilot.

The system is used for passenger screening. When you step up to the travel document checker kiosk, you have to put your ID into a machine. The machine compares your live photo to the one on your ID after you look into a camera for up to five seconds. The system is called a "one to one" verification system. The final call is still being made by a human agent even though the software is judging if you're a real person.

How precise is it? It's been better for the TSA to verify IDs than it has been in the past. The technology is a security enhancement. We are very pleased with the performance of the machine.

There are people who don't look like their license photo. Minor variations in appearance over time have minimal impact on identity verification.

The data about how often the system wrongly identifies people has not been released. Next year, the Department of Homeland Security will have to approve the use of facial recognition systems at airports in the US.

Cahn is worried that the TSA will allow technology that is more likely to wrongly accuse black and brown and nonbinary travelers and other groups that have historically faced more facial recognition errors.

People of color can be harder to identify with facial recognition technology. The National Institute of Science and Technology found that false positive rates in one-to-one verification systems were up to 100 times less accurate for certain demographic groups.

Travelers should be worried. People shouldn't worry about being mis identified. The technology is performing according to the highest scientific standards, and we work diligently to make sure that is the case. Sampling is a serious issue for us, and it is an important part of our testing.

Critics such as Cahn do not find that satisfactory. He doesn't trust the TSA to evaluate the effectiveness of its own facial recognition systems.

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Privacy, what about it?

When people hear about facial recognition being used by governments, they think of the situation in China, where it's very difficult for people to avoid being tracked. Is Homeland Security able to identify you at a protest if you go through airport security?

The agency doesn't use facial recognition for law enforcement. It doesn't use the scans to build a new national database of face IDs because it doesn't want to hold onto our face data.

The scanning and match is done at the podium. The live photo and the photo of the ID are not kept by us. The science and technology office can evaluate the system's effectiveness if the data is held for more than a year.

The scope of how the tech is being used by the TSA is already being expanded. There are a few airports where you don't have to present your ID for inspection. Your photo is your identification.

The machines compare passengers' live faces to a database of photos the government already has. The system only works for passengers with PreCheck or Global Entry and they need to request it from Delta. It was reported by a colleague that it was an extra-fast version of PreCheck that saved him five minutes on his trip.

You only get one face if your data is stolen. All of the TSA's databases are password protected. The Department of Homeland Security said that photos of travelers were taken in a data hack.

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Your right to privacy.

Do you need to take part?

The facial recognition technology is not mandated. Those who don't feel comfortable will still have to present their ID, but they can tell the officer that they don't want their photo taken, and the officer will turn off the live camera. The signs are supposed to inform you of your rights.

Do you think it means you'll get moved to a slow line, get an extra pat down, or a mark on your record? "If you exercise your right, you should not have a negative experience," said the man. You should ask to speak to a manager if you think that has happened.

"What we often see with these programs is that they are optional in the beginning and eventually compulsory over time," said Cahn. There is no place like an airport for asking people for consent.

When it comes to airline travel, even people who care a lot about privacy find it hard to travel. Cahn said that people gravitate to options that help them get through the airport quicker.

People who don't consent to it paying a tax with their time can zip through it. How Voluntary is it at that point?

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There are over a dozen airports with facial recognition technology. Fowler talked about what to expect at the airport and what it meant for privacy.

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