If you’ve been to the airport recently, a TSO (TSA officer) probably asked you to stand in front of a camera for a quick photo before proceeding to security. This is part of TSA’s fairly new facial recognition technology, implemented at select airports to verify identities, while enhancing security and traveler convenience.
TSA warns that the photo is immediately deleted under normal operating conditions, and promises that its data collection follows all DHS and TSA cybersecurity requirements. However, TSA does warn that in certain scenarios they do keep photos and data for 24 hours to ensure the accuracy of the facial recognition technology.
Custom Border Protection also uses face scanning, but if you’re not a U.S. citizen there’s no guarantee your photo is deleted.
Travelers have the right to voluntarily opt out of the photo, without penalty. If a traveler declines participation, they must present their physical identification or passport.
To perform the facial recognition during the screening process, TSA uses a second-generation Credential Authentication Technology, otherwise known as CAT-2 scanners. They have been rolled out across 84 airports in the nation. Over the next few years, TSA plans to expand CAT-2 scanners to more than 400 federalized airports.
As technology progresses, TSA may one day even eliminate the shoe removal requirement thanks to high-definition advanced imaging technology.
“TSA is committed to protecting traveler privacy, civil rights, civil liberties and ensuring the public’s trust as it seeks to improve the traveler experience through its exploration of identity verification technologies,” as stated on their website.
That being said, some privacy experts have been urging travelers to think twice before participating in facial recognition. Travis LeBlanc, a lawyer and a former member of the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board, spoke with HuffPost to remind travelers that “TSA is part of the Department of Homeland Security, which is also responsible for immigration enforcement.” Thus, “there’s lots of different uses that you could see for these images.”
Moreover, deepfake + AI fraud expert Joshua McKenty, former Chief Cloud Architect at NASA and Co-Founder & CEO of Polyguard had a few comments to share:
With REAL ID and TSA Touchless ID, travelers are entering a new era of biometric identity checks at airports. This isn’t just about faster lines or tighter security—it’s a real-time experiment in how facial recognition can either empower individuals or expose them to new risks. The REAL ID rollout means that the 50 state-level databases that connect biographic information with biometric data, have now been linked into one national super-database. Ergo, a giant bullseye for every hacker in the world, and an as-yet unused surveillance superweapon.
So although TSA busted myths such as saving images, using facial recognition to profile and deport travelers, false matching and misidentification with criminals, the process being involuntary or using it for airport surveillance on passengers, it is fully in an individual’s right to opt out of a photo if it makes them uncomfortable.
Learn more about your rights as a traveler here.