{"id":1207554,"date":"2023-11-30T14:10:10","date_gmt":"2023-11-30T19:10:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/?p=1207554"},"modified":"2023-11-30T14:10:10","modified_gmt":"2023-11-30T19:10:10","slug":"bipartisan-senate-bill-would-kill-the-tsas-big-brother-airport-facial-recognition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/?p=1207554","title":{"rendered":"Bipartisan Senate bill would kill the TSA\u2019s \u2018Big Brother\u2019 airport facial recognition"},"content":{"rendered":"

US Senators John Kennedy (R-LA) and Jeff Merkley (D-OR) introduced a bipartisan bill Wednesday to end involuntary facial recognition screening at airports. The Traveler Privacy Protection Act<\/a> would block the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) from continuing or expanding its facial recognition tech program<\/a>. It would also require the government agency to explicitly receive congressional permission to renew it, and it would have to dispose of all biometric data within three months.<\/p>\n

Senator Merkley described the TSA\u2019s biometric collection practices as the first steps toward an Orwellian nightmare. \u201cThe TSA program is a precursor to a full-blown national surveillance state,\u201d Merkley wrote<\/a> in a news release. \u201cNothing could be more damaging to our national values of privacy and freedom. No government should be trusted with this power.\u201d Other Senators supporting the bill include Edward J. Markey (D-MA), Roger Marshall (R-KS), Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA).<\/p>\n

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The TSA began testing facial recognition at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) in 2018. The agency\u2019s pitch to travelers framed it as an exciting new high-tech feature, promising a \u201cbiometrically-enabled curb-to-gate passenger experience.\u201d The TSA said<\/a> this summer it planned to expand the program to over 430 US airports within the next few years.<\/p>\n

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I was back at Washington National Airport this month, and @TSA<\/a> was up to their old tricks\u2014making it unclear that you ARE able to opt out of using facial recognition technology. I\u2019ll keep holding them accountable. pic.twitter.com\/absGn5v1Q3<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Senator Jeff Merkley (@SenJeffMerkley) September 25, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote><\/div>\n

The program at least technically allows travelers to opt-out, but that process isn\u2019t always transparent in practice. Merkley posted the video above to X<\/a> in September, demonstrating how agents guided travelers to the facial scanner without mentioning that it\u2019s optional. No signs near the booths said it was optional or explicitly mentioned the gathering of facial data, either. The booths were arranged so that flyers would have difficulty entering their driver\u2019s license or ID (required) without stepping in front of the facial scanner.<\/p>\n

Advocacy groups supporting the bill include the ACLU<\/a>, Electronic Privacy Information Center and Public Citizen. \u201cThe privacy risks and discriminatory impact of facial recognition are real, and the government\u2019s use of our faces as IDs poses a serious threat to our democracy,\u201d wrote Jeramie Scott, Senior Counsel and Director of EPIC\u2019s Project on Surveillance Oversight, in Markley\u2019s press release. \u201cThe TSA should not be allowed to unilaterally subject millions of travelers to this dangerous technology.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery day, TSA scans thousands of Americans\u2019 faces without their permission and without making it clear that travelers can opt out of the invasive screening,\u201d Sen. Kennedy wrote<\/a> in a separate news release. \u201cThe Traveler Privacy Protection Act would protect every American from Big Brother\u2019s intrusion by ending the facial recognition program.\u201d<\/p>\n

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https:\/\/www.engadget.com\/bipartisan-senate-bill-would-kill-the-tsas-big-brother-airport-facial-recognition-191010937.html?src=rss
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\nSource: Engadget – Bipartisan Senate bill would kill the TSA\u2019s \u2018Big Brother\u2019 airport facial recognition<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

US Senators John Kennedy (R-LA) and Jeff Merkley (D-OR) introduced a bipartisan bill Wednesday to end involuntary facial recognition screening at airports. The Traveler Privacy Protection Act would block the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) from continuing or expanding its facial … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[99,110],"tags":[98],"class_list":["post-1207554","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-engadget","category-unfiltered-rss","tag-engadget"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1207554","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1207554"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1207554\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1207554"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1207554"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1207554"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}