Los Angeles International Airport is starting to institute facial recognition software to help reduce possible terror threats to passengers.
“Fox & Friends First” ran a segment on the new scanning technology Thursday and outlined what’s in store for travelers going forward. (RELATED: American Airlines Weighs In On Child Separation Debate At The Border)
“Whether it is going through customs or boarding international flights, your face is your boarding pass and ID,” said Fox News reporter Claudia Cowan. “In a pilot program at LAX, cameras use facial recognition to match passengers unique features to government pictures on file from passports.”
Cowan said critics of the new program think citizens will have to sacrifice more of their personal privacy in the name of safety.
“Customs and border protection maintains the software safe and secure in the long with facial scans of those, generating a biometric record of exit,” Cowan added.
She said airports all across the U.S. are hoping to make this new system the standard within four years.
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“Passengers who feel those might be more like big brother cannot doubt in a traditional way but customs and border protection says biometric is the future and hope to have the technology installed at airports around the country within four years,” Cowan concluded.
The Daily Caller News Foundation reached out to the public relations department at LAX to ask if passengers should be concerned about trading their privacy for safety. PR specialist Charles Pannunzio referred TheDCNF to the Customs and Border Protection website.
On the site, it says passengers can request an alternative form of screening if they prefer to bypass the facial recognition machines:
Individuals seeking to travel internationally are subject to the laws and rules enforced by CBP and are subject to inspection. However, if a U.S. Citizen does not wish to participate in the biometric entry or exit process, he or she must request to be processed using alternate procedures, such as presenting travel credentials to an available CBP Officer or authorized airline personnel.
When asked what will happen to that alternative when facial screening becomes standard practice in several years, LAX did not return the request for comment.
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