CBP (Customs and Border Protection): A new facial recognition system being tested at several U.S. airports has helped catch a fraudster for the first time, at Dulles International airport near Washington, D.C.
The U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) issued a press release stating that a 26-year-old man traveling from Brazil on a French passport was identified by the airport’s facial recognition system, which went live three days ago. The suspect was later identified as being from the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Naturally, CBP is celebrating the fact, as about 105,000 people arrive in the U.S. from abroad every day (this number does not include travelers from Mexico and Canada), according to the International Trade Administration, as Quartz reported in February 2017. Illegal entry into the United States is at an all-time high, and the agency needs all the help it can get in verifying the identities of so many people on a daily basis.
The biometric technology that CBP reportedly uses first collects photographs of all travelers and links them to their flight manifests and travel documents (mostly passports and visas). So as soon as they touch down on American soil, travelers from abroad are led to a camera that captures an image and compares it to that on their travel documents to determine if they are who they say they are.
CBP hopes that this practice will not only help identify terrorists and fraudsters trying to enter the United States, but will also speed up airport security by allowing travelers to go through security without a boarding pass. The technology is currently being tested at 13 airports – entry and exit points and it is very likely that the number will increase in the near future.
When it comes to our personal security and the privacy of our data, Americans know very well how to gold-platter the pill. For those who know or remember, the term “collateral damage” usually refers to human lives (civilians) and has become known through the US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
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