Facial scans violate passenger privacy, report says

WASHINGTON — A new report concludes that a Department of Homeland Security pilot program improperly gathers data on Americans when it requires passengers embarking on foreign flights to undergo facial recognition scans to ensure they haven’t overstayed visas.

The report, released on Thursday by researchers at the Center on Privacy and Technology at Georgetown University’s law school, called the system an invasive surveillance tool that the department has installed at nearly a dozen airports without going through a required federal rule-making process.

The report’s authors examined dozens of Department of Homeland Security documents and raised questions about the accuracy of facial recognition scans. They said the technology had high error rates and was subject to bias, because the scans often fail to properly identify women and African Americans.

“It’s telling that DHS cannot identify a single benefit actually resulting from airport face scans at the departure gate,” said Harrison Rudolph, an associate at the center and one of the report’s co-authors.

“DHS doesn’t need a facescanning system to catch travelers without a photo on file. It’s alarming that DHS still hasn’t supplied evidence for the necessity of this $1 billion program,” he added.

A spokesman for the Customs and Border Protection, an arm of the Homeland Security Department, did not have an immediate comment in response.

The report comes as Homeland Security officials begin to roll out a biometric exit system that uses facial recognition scanning in 2018 at all U.S. airports with international flights.

Customs and Border Protection has been testing a number of biometric programs, partnering with several airlines in Atlanta, Boston, New York and Washington. It will cost up to $1 billion, raised from certain visa fee surcharges over the next decade.

Customs officials say the biometric system has also produced some successes in the pilot testing and has helped catch people who have entered the United States illegally and are traveling on fake documents. They noted that facial scans and fingerprints — unlike travel documents — cannot be forged or altered and therefore give agents an additional tool to ensure border security.

The biometric system being tested by the Department of Homeland Security can be used either with a small portable handheld device or a kiosk equipped with a camera.