TSA Should Approach Facial Recognition Technology With Caution

07.05.2024 - 18:52 / travelpulse.com / David Pekoske / North America / Rich Thomaselli

My two boys are grown now, 24 and 20, and I always tell them to be careful. And invariably they always say to me that they are grown men and can be trusted.

And I suppose it's just a parent thing to say, to be careful.

It's not them that I don’t trust. It's everybody else.

There are some bad people out there with nefarious intentions. No matter what the situation. Perhaps that is just one reason why a group of bipartisan United States senators are calling for limits to facial recognition technology being employed by the Transportation Security Administration at airports.

I don’t care if it’s an election year; it’s the right thing to do. The senators are justifiably concerned about privacy rights and civil liberties. The group of 14 is asking that the upcoming Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) reauthorization bill include some language about how the TSA monitors the technology.

“This technology poses significant threats to our privacy and civil liberties, and Congress should prohibit TSA’s development and deployment of facial recognition tools until rigorous congressional oversight occurs,” the senators wrote in a letter.

Listen, I have nothing against artificial intelligence or the advancement of technology. But when you have scam artists using the technology to mimic a voice and call grandma and ask her for $5,000 to be bailed out, that’s a problem.

I’m also all for the advancement of airport security. I think anyone who lived through 9/11 would support that.

But there has to be a happy medium.

Facial recognition technology is in use at almost 100 airports, but that’s still well short of the 430 that the TSA is responsible for. And, like air traffic controllers, there are only so many agents who can be on the job at once.

Even then, there are cases of indifference.

I remember quite vividly, almost two decades ago, accompanying my father to the airport to pick up my brother on a flight from Las Vegas. My father set off alarms at security and when he was checked, he told them that he always carries his lucky bullet from Korea in his pocket. Sorry, Dad, but that’s a no-no. They still let him go.

To this day, even with facial recognition, there is still a human element to all of this. Even TSA administrator David Pekoske said last year that biometrics would be required at airports someday. But for right now there is some concern about how the data is collected and stored.

And the right to privacy will always be an issue.

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