The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is set to expand a pilot facial recognition program to more than 400 federally-run airports nationwide. Current generation Credential Authentication Technology devices — CAT-2 units — are currently deployed at around 30 U.S. airports as part of a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) pilot program. Meanwhile, privacy concerns have sparked increased scrutiny of the plan from lawmakers on Capitol Hill.
Scanners being used in the DHS pilot program use A.I. to compare government I.D. photos of passengers with those taken in real-time at the airport, bypassing the need for passengers to provide identification to a human TSA agent before proceeding through the security checkpoint. Currently, passengers can opt out of CAT-2 screenings and can still go through the standard TSA I.D. process instead.
How Does CAT-2 Facial Recognition Work?
“The CAT-2 units are currently deployed at nearly 30 airports nationwide and will expand to more than 400 federalized airports over the coming years,” a TSA spokesman said, adding that airports using the units have posted clear signage notifying passengers of the facial recognition device’s use and that they may opt out of the facial recognition program.
According to the TSA, the CAT-2 units use one-to-one verification — meaning the real-time passenger photo is compared to a single government-issued photo like those found on I.D.s instead of a larger database of images. Once the passenger is cleared, the scanner is supposed to delete the photo.
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