WASHINGTON: The United States’ Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has launched a pilot project at airports that will see facial recognition technology used to verify passengers’ identities. Known as the 1:1 Facial Recognition Air Entry Pilot, the project aims to determine if facial recognition is viable in assisting Customs Border Patrol Officers in identifying possible imposters using US e-passports. In a Privacy Impact Assessment document, the CBP noted that during this pilot, the CBP will takes a photo of a U.S. passport holder, and apply facial recognition software algorithms to compare the photo taken against the pre-existing to identify if it is indeed the holder.
“The facial recognition software provides the with a match confidence score after the e-passport chip is scanned and the photo is taken. The score is generated by algorithms designed to detect possible imposters.” This CBP stresses in the privacy report that photographs will be taken randomly, and that while the report may be sent to DHS Science and Technology (S&T) and Office of Biometric Identity, that the latter departments will not have access to the facial recognition photographs stored on the CBP server.
The CBP also says it is providing transparency to the public about this pilot by posting signage in close proximity to facial recognition camera at each testing site to inform the public that CBP is taking a photograph of US e-passport holders.
