Guest post by Leo Hohmann – republished with permission
A bipartisan group of Senators has introduced a bill to prevent the expansion of this program citing an invasion of privacy, but TSA launches it anyway
Despite complaints from several members of Congress from both parties, Joe Biden’s Transportation Security Administration is moving forward with plans to expand facial-recognition technology at 430 U.S. airports.
The TSA says it will install enhanced Credential Authentication Technology (CAT) devices at the airports, an upgrade from previous units used in a pilot program at nearly 30 U.S. airports.
The latest CAT scanners, known as CAT-2 units, incorporate facial recognition technology by capturing real-time pictures of travelers and comparing them against their photo IDs. These units have been deployed at nearly 30 airports nationwide and will now be rolled out at more than 400 “federalized” airports in the coming years, reports MSN.
As of now, participation in facial recognition screenings is supposedly optional for travelers, who can choose to stick with the standard physical ID verification process. But there have been countless firsthand accounts from airport passengers who have indicated that they were not given any option by TSA to reject the face scans.
