Facial Recognition May Boost Airport Security But Raises Privacy Worries

NPR

Passengers at Boston's Logan International Airport were surfing their phones and drinking coffee, waiting to board a flight to Aruba recently when a JetBlue agent came on the loudspeaker, announcing: "Today, we do have a unique way of boarding."

On flights to the Caribbean island, JetBlue is experimenting with facial recognition software that acts as a boarding pass. The airline says it's about convenience. For the federal government, it's also about national security. But for privacy activists, it's an intrusive form of surveillance.

This is the first trial between an airline and Customs and Border Protection to use facial recognition in place of boarding passes.

"The practical side of that is you will not need to show a boarding pass and you will not need to take your passport out because your face will be essentially your boarding pass," says Joanna Geraghty, JetBlue's executive vice president of customer experience.

Michelle Moynihan, who was flying to Aruba for a wedding, says facial recognition would make her life easier.

"Typically when I travel I have my three kids with me and I travel alone with them," she says. "They're all under age 10, so flipping through multiple boarding passes on my phone, making sure I have all the kids, all the backpacks, all the suitcases can be cumbersome and frustrating."

Moynihan gets in line and right before she gets to the jet bridge, there's a camera that's about the size of a shoebox. It takes her photo and she gets a checkmark, saying she's good to go. [MORE]