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CBP Deploys Facial Recognition to Verify Identities of Departing Int'l Travelers

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CBP Deploys Facial Recognition to Verify Identities of Departing Int'l Travelers

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Old Jun 16, 2016, 12:31 pm
  #16  
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Anybody seen a Privacy Impact Assessment? Tough for me to search for it while I'm on an iPhone overseas.
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Old Jun 16, 2016, 12:52 pm
  #17  
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FRT is in use at many (if not most) large hub airports (as well as major sporting and other large attendance events, casinos, etc.) and has been for many years. FRT is quite effective and getting more effective all the time. In 2004 I was shown how cameras on the blimps over Athens could pick out faces from more than 1,500 meters above a crowd.

One cannot refuse to be photographed; the photographs are being taken constantly from cameras in many places throughout an airport.

Should someone try to decline or refuse to be photographed, or attempt to obstruct the camera taking a photo, at an immigration inspection point, that person will no doubt experience quite a lengthy delay in their travel plans while undergoing additional scrutiny (if they are not denied entry).

But, YMMV.
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Old Jun 16, 2016, 2:37 pm
  #18  
 
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"In 2004 I was shown how cameras on the blimps over Athens could pick out faces from more than 1,500 meters above a crowd."

I think you're confusing camera resolution with the ability of computers to ascertain a person's name/identity based on a photo of his face.


"One cannot refuse to be photographed; the photographs are being taken constantly from cameras in many places throughout an airport."

Please tell this to TSA , airport cops, and all the other airport security goons. They're the only ones I see throwing hissy-fits these days when someone uses a camera in an airport.
Come to think of it, they're the ones doing most of the smuggling, so I think I understand their distress.

Last edited by yandosan; Jun 16, 2016 at 2:59 pm
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Old Jun 16, 2016, 3:24 pm
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Oh, and a further example where FR is used: if you are departing on a domestic flight from LHR T5 or T2 (and possibly further UK airports): a photo will be taken when you enter the secure area (or alternatively, when passing transfer immigration if transferring), this is then matched at the departure gate.

Flights have occasionally been held back and individual passengers deplaned when the facial recognition didn't match (sometimes the original photo was messed up, sometimes a BP was reprinted, and the photos are tied to a specific BP, perhaps occasionally someone boarded without first passing UK immigration). Most of the time it works without a hitch.

TL;DR: it works.
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Old Jun 16, 2016, 3:50 pm
  #20  
 
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Originally Posted by FliesWay2Much
Anybody seen a Privacy Impact Assessment? Tough for me to search for it while I'm on an iPhone overseas.
https://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/fi...t-june2016.pdf
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Old Jun 17, 2016, 1:44 am
  #21  
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Thank you!
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Old Jun 17, 2016, 2:11 am
  #22  
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Originally Posted by yandosan
Police and politicians love to throw around the idea of Facial RecognitionTechnology. They've been doing it for years.
It makes them feel powerful. However, the truth is computers are not very good at discriminating human faces. Besides, if it did work, by some miracle, millions would walk around with masks on, just to prevent gov't goons from tracking their every move. File under : "false alarm" in the Odyssey Files.
FRT is increasingly an ever more effective tool of ever more intrusive governmental surveillance of the general public.

Originally Posted by televisor
Oh, and a further example where FR is used: if you are departing on a domestic flight from LHR T5 or T2 (and possibly further UK airports): a photo will be taken when you enter the secure area (or alternatively, when passing transfer immigration if transferring), this is then matched at the departure gate.

Flights have occasionally been held back and individual passengers deplaned when the facial recognition didn't match (sometimes the original photo was messed up, sometimes a BP was reprinted, and the photos are tied to a specific BP, perhaps occasionally someone boarded without first passing UK immigration). Most of the time it works without a hitch.

TL;DR: it works.
Detection rates are not 100%, and false positive rates are not 0%.

Last edited by GUWonder; Jun 17, 2016 at 2:19 am
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Old Jun 17, 2016, 8:30 am
  #23  
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Originally Posted by yandosan
"In 2004 I was shown how cameras on the blimps over Athens could pick out faces from more than 1,500 meters above a crowd."

I think you're confusing camera resolution with the ability of computers to ascertain a person's name/identity based on a photo of his face.


"One cannot refuse to be photographed; the photographs are being taken constantly from cameras in many places throughout an airport."

Please tell this to TSA , airport cops, and all the other airport security goons. They're the only ones I see throwing hissy-fits these days when someone uses a camera in an airport.
Come to think of it, they're the ones doing most of the smuggling, so I think I understand their distress.
No, not confusing the two. The systems (cameras and recognition software) were so good even then that from 1,500 meters over the city a single person in a crowd could be identified (assuming, of course, the person's photo was in one of the many databases in use).

Yes, it is ironic that it is the man taking photos that is opposed to be being photographed...
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Old Jun 21, 2016, 9:03 pm
  #24  
 
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Originally Posted by Chrisinhouston
Sorry if I missed it if it was already mentioned here but this is from the online edition of the Atlanta Journal/Constitution:


Customs testing facial comparison technology at Hartsfield-Jackson
June 13, 2016 | Filed in: Airline industry, airport, Atlanta, Delta, Hartsfield-Jackson, security.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection is testing facial comparison technology at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport to verify travelers’ identities.

<redacted by moderator>

Travelers will have their digital photo taken while showing their boarding pass before heading down the jet way for their flight. Travelers 15-78 years old will be required to go through the process, which is expected to take less than three seconds.

<redacted by moderator>

CBP said images of travelers will be held in secure data systems for “post-departure analysis,” and the data of travelers with U.S. passports will be deleted immediately once their identity is confirmed. For other travelers, the test data will be deleted after the test ends.

<redacted by moderator>
Ahh I highly doubt it.
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Old Jun 21, 2016, 10:30 pm
  #25  
 
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Don't these get fooled by a pair of glasses? The Aussie ones I've used before get all confused as the glasses I'm wearing in my pic are my old ones and I've got new ones now. Even taking off my glasses don't help and I eventually gave up. lol
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Old Jun 29, 2016, 6:13 am
  #26  
 
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Originally Posted by televisor
We aliens get photos on entry to the USA (not 100% sure they do that at land borders though - possibly related to the use of paper I-94s there?).
Yup still takes place on the land border
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Old Jan 28, 2017, 3:36 pm
  #27  
 
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Executive Order Requires Biometric Entry-Exit Tracking

It appears that the new executive order requires biometric entry and exit tracking for all travelers to the US.

Does this mean that US citizens will now be required to submit their fingerprints upon entry/exit to the US?

How will this work for US airports since domestic and international flights generally depart from the same terminals?

Here is a link to the blog at which I found this. http://viewfromthewing.boardingarea....t-just-arrive/
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Old Jan 28, 2017, 5:15 pm
  #28  
 
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There's an old saying in government, "The Executive proposes, Congress disposes." The executive order may "direct" the chief of HS to "expedite" a biometric entry-exit tracking system, but he can only do so with funds appropriated by Congress. There has been talk of such a system, on and off, for several years, but it always dead-ended due to the high cost to the federal government and local governments (who would likely have to fund the infrastructure improvements at airports to facilitate the system - the proverbial unfunded mandate).
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Old Jan 28, 2017, 8:49 pm
  #29  
 
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The only way I can imagine this happening is if they had CBP officers at the gate or on the jet bridge for outbound international flights. I can't imagine airports changing their design for this.

In fact some airports don't even have CBP at all as the only international flights are flights from Canada.
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Old Jan 29, 2017, 8:10 am
  #30  
 
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Originally Posted by guflyer
It appears that the new executive order requires biometric entry and exit tracking for all travelers to the US.

Does this mean that US citizens will now be required to submit their fingerprints upon entry/exit to the US?

How will this work for US airports since domestic and international flights generally depart from the same terminals?

Here is a link to the blog at which I found this. http://viewfromthewing.boardingarea....t-just-arrive/
Actually the order only requires reports from the Secretary of DHS on a system that, apparently, is already in the works. Why the government needs biometric info on people leaving the country is bewildering.
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