Delta to begin using facial recognition cameras at an LAX boarding gate with plans to permanently expand across the airport
- Delta Air Lines will implement facial recognition technology in Terminal 2, Friday
- The introduction has prompted fears of an Orwellian program of surveillance
- Technology was signed off by Obama administration and continued by Trump
- Critics say the technology could be used to violate privacy and date, as well as pointing to issues with accuracy for non-white male subjects
Delta Air Lines will implement facial recognition technology at Los Angeles International Airport from Friday, with cameras identifying passengers at a boarding gate with more to be installed after.
The move has been met with controversy however, as groups such as Greenpeace call for a federal banning of the technology by law enforcement agencies.
Critics say the technology could be used to violate privacy and date, as well as pointing to issues with accuracy for non-white male subjects.
Delta Air Lines will implement facial recognition technology at Los Angeles International Airport from Friday, with cameras identifying passengers at a boarding gate with more to be installed after
A spokeswoman for the coalition of groups, which also includes MoveOn and the Electronic Privacy Information Center, said the groups also oppose the use of the technology by airlines.
‘There is no real oversight for how a private corporation can use our biometric information once they’ve collected it,’ said Evan Greer, deputy director of Fight for the Future.
‘We’ve already seen high-profile data breaches where airport facial recognition databases were hacked and exposed.’
LAX has been a testing ground for the technology by various airlines and federal agencies over the last 12 months.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection began trialing the technology last summer for a month and deemed the period a success.
Delta’s deployment of facial recognition technology will begin in Terminal 2 on Friday. LAX has been a testing ground for the technology by various airlines and federal agencies over the last 12 months.
‘Although CBP has a very thorough and robust biographic vetting system, biometrics provides additional assurance and confirmation of identity,’ the agency said in a statement, the LA Times reported.
Delta’s deployment of facial recognition technology will begin in Terminal 2 on Friday.
The airline is permanently installing the cameras with plans to expand to 13 of its 21 boarding gates.
The ‘biometric verification of identities’ of all travelers crossing US borders is set for a 2021 start date, with Homeland Security scrambling to get the system in place after Trump issued an executive order in March 2017 expediting the process.
The ‘biometric verification of identities’ of all travelers crossing US borders is set for a 2021 start date, with Homeland Security scrambling to get the system in place after Trump issued an executive order in March 2017 expediting the process
The introduction of the technology was signed off under President Obama’s administration but carried forward enthusiastically under that of Trump’s.
At present the law lags behind technology and as such the use of facial recognition technology is crucially not illegal, while the courts have yet to consider whether it impedes the Fourth Amendment.
The technology is already being used in seventeen major international airports including those in New York City, Chicago, Boston and Atlanta.
Some airlines have also signaled their willingness to use the technology, including British Airways, JetBlue and American Airlines.
