Boggie Dog

I dislike the idea of being under constant surveillance when in public. Know that is the way things are moving but still don't like it.

Why should we need to prove who he are just to travel? That is an arrow straight to the heart of freedom.

Loren Pechtel

Exactly. What's the issue??

FlyingHoustonian

http://www.chron.com/news/texas/arti...r-11283566.php

I posted this on the exit controls thread back on June 27th:
http://abc13.com/travel/facial-recog...t-iah/2156898/

https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/local-m...tercontinental

New biometric exit program at IAH on NRT flight (follow-up from prior testing at ATL)

I presume this is the daily UNITED Houston-Tokyo flight and not the ANA one


oh, and an article from two years ago about the foreigner doc scans that were tested a while back catching people. Different from above but still "fun" reading...
http://www.biometricupdate.com/20151...nal-defendants

http://www.dailynews.com/general-new...or-a-face-scan

a very good and long article about it with details of airlines starting biometrics and possibly the EU. Just sharing more to read.

Often1

Your passport photo is already on file and easily accessed by DHS (CBP). If you are moving around almost any airport with commercial air service, there is CCTV coverage of almost every public and most non-public areas and certainly the check points.

Given that most countries have exit controls, this is a less than minor intrusion.

InkUnderNails

When I got my Nexus they required an iris scan and fingerprints. Can't get anymore biometric than that but non-voluntary scanning and saving would step it up a bit.

wco81

There's this tendency to say they already have my data or privacy is dead and just handwave each of these erosions.

This DHS tried to impose an electronics ban from flights and now, trying to apply a law in the way it wasn't intended to expand personal data collection and storage.

flyingmango

Well said.

BOSTravels

I always mix the two up, but is this more like "1984" or "Brave New World"?

König

Hmm... As numerous posters before me said, our biometric photos are already in the DHS system, so I also don't see what's the big deal. We voluntarily take our own pictures when using the CBP app during inbound immigration control, and now apparently CBP takes our picture when we exit the country.

The only issue I have with this new flow is that the CBP still takes the biometric data from the US citizens even though they are not supposed to do that. They are saying that once the photo will be matched to that from the DHS database to confirm the identity of a USC, it will be deleted momentarily; however, the problem is that (a) they are still taking biometric data from the citizens and (b) ensuring that the photos indeed get deleted will be quite hard.

GUWonder

They aren't deleting all the photos of US citizens taken as part of this computetized biometric exit and entry control.

TribalistMeathead

Per this article I read this morning about the pilot being extended to one ORD-LHR AA-operated flight, they are:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/g00/ne....google.com%2F

Glad our upcoming trip to the UK is outbound via ship and not that flight...

petaluma1

Surprise, surprise.

guflyer

This article doesn't mention that US citizens have the right to opt-out of this during the pilot. Do they have this right? If someone uses this right do they get anything negative marked about them in their record?

Does anyone know which AA flight from ORD to LHR uses this? There are multiple flights per day flying that route and some may appreciate this information.

Is the article correct about whether there is photo storage? This reminds me of how a Chicago Tribune article stated that precheck photos were not stored but it later being described on this forum that that is not the case.

RadioGirl

I'm as in favor of privacy and against gov't over-reach as much as the next guy, but I still don't understand what the concern is about this particular implementation.

Tell me where I've gone wrong in the following sequence:

1. If you are a US citizen flying out of the country, you have a passport*.
2. If you have a passport, you had to submit photographs of your face to CBP or DHS or State Dept.
3. When you submitted photographs, you knew they would keep a copy (probably an electronic scan).
4. When you buy a ticket to fly out of the country, you have to supply your passport details.

So "the government" not only has the facial photographs of every US citizens travelling internationally, but could sort them by "these are the photos of all the US citizens on flight UA 1234 from ABC to DEF on 7/22/2017."

So now CBP is taking another photograph of your face at the airport, which they may or may not store, and you find this alarming. Why? It's okay for them to have one photo in storage but not two (or more)? It's okay for them to have a photo from 5 years ago but not one from this year? It's okay for them to store the photo from your passport but not the one at the airport? I really don't understand why this is a worry.

If they were taking fingerprints or DNA samples or something that they didn't already have, I'd be right there sharpening the pitchforks with you, but this, really, seems a non-event.

* Yeah, I know, there are exceptions to requiring a passport. One (I believe) is US military personnel traveling on official orders, but I'm guessing the government already has their photos, too.

Randyk47

I guess with 42 years of Federal civilian service with the US Army I've become so used to be photographed, finger printed, having my personal life probed, etc., that another photograph makes no difference to me. Without doubt I chose and continued my career knowing full well that the government was going to collect a whole lot of information on me. No big deal.