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Senators say TSA's facial recognition program is out of control

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141–150 of 236 posts

Re: Senators say TSA's facial recognition program is out of control

#141

I can’t believe it has gone this far. I was flying out of Logan airport (Boston) and had to have my face scanned right boarded the plane. There was nothing about opting out. It seemed like I didn’t comply, I wasn’t flying. I hate this. Feels so wrong and dystopian. They need to abolish this. It’s so unnecessary.

They're not going to put up a sign about opting out. You have to say no.

Some flight agents kinda force it on passengers, specially JetBlue ones. They say it is ‘mandatory’, but in reality they do not know or ignore their own protocols.

Re: Senators say TSA's facial recognition program is out of control

#142
post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe I’m old school but I despise the idea of the government tracking me as I travel. Time and time again they are caught violating privacy laws and abusing power.

Given that you already need government issued ID that matches the name printed on your ticket to travel on an airplane, wouldn’t the government already have the ability to track you, regardless of facial recognition?

You are basically arguing that facil recognition is not needed, which doesn’t seem what you want to argue about.

Re: Senators say TSA's facial recognition program is out of control

#144
post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean it's like saying what's the point of a security feature if thing that feature prevents from happening isn't happening after implementing that feature.

Sure, there's some truth to that, but shoe bombs, underpants bombs and the two liquids bombs have never been tried again. If they did, they would set off their shoes and underpants in the "cattle maze", where there are several planesfull of people, and nobody has been ID'ed, or x-rayed or swabbed. There's nothing magical about setting off a bomb on a plane as far as terrorizing a populace goes. Bombs in the mazes bef…

I'm not arguing with that. I'm saying that out of all reasons TSA isn't effective, lack of bombs isn't one of them.

Re: Senators say TSA's facial recognition program is out of control

#145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem is that by this it becomes ever more difficult to get rid of an oppressive, dictatorial, unelected and violent Government.

tbqh, first if the insinuation is that China is not democratic, that is only true in the sense it is not a liberal democracy with a conservative wing represented (a good thing), but it is still a democracy with elections. secondly, if people surviving a literal genocide in Palestine can resist the most technologically sophisticated, surveilled, and completely enclosed death camp ever constructed by the U.S. and Israe…

China is a one party state is it not?

> you can deal with cameras

Still rather not.

Re: Senators say TSA's facial recognition program is out of control

#146

For this to work they must have already done facial recognition on everyone’s ID photos, so I fail to see what opting out even does for me from a privacy perspective. Seems like shutting the barn door after the horse is already out.

  > They already have a little data, I fail to see why I shouldn't let them have everything.
That's the extreme version of your comment. But it is also a common sentiment that people have around social media and other data collection

Re: Senators say TSA's facial recognition program is out of control

#147

When entering China, they take your fingerprints, iris, and I guess face too... I was there in 2019, at one point I was at an airport, and a screen was bragging, "Stand where the camera can see your face, and we'll tell you which way to your gate.". It worked too, the screen displayed my name, flight number and direction to my gate. And implicitly, "We can identify you wherever you are.".

When entering the United States they also take fingerprints and a picture of your face.

Fingerprints? I haven't ever had that happen. Perhaps only certain countries?

Re: Senators say TSA's facial recognition program is out of control

#148
post #74

I don't like TSA or the US security state, but I really find it hard to see why this has attracted so much attention. When you enter the airport, you're surrounded by cameras from numerous government and commercial entities, no doubt performing facial recognition. When you get to your destination, your photo will be taken by the destination country plus countless other surveillance cameras along the way. And unless y…

Where is the line where you say "stop"? People started complaining about cameras, and airport id checks, and facial recognition, and REAL ID, and incentives like PreCheck to support mass fingerprinting for a decade or three. At some point the rubber band breaks, or at least one of the ropes snap.

For those of us that don't follow your train of logic, can you explain what it means for "the rubber band to break" or for "one of the ropes to snap"? Is there something specific you have in mind? Or is this a vague foreboding sense that something, somewhere will eventually go wrong?

Re: Senators say TSA's facial recognition program is out of control

#149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When entering the United States they also take fingerprints and a picture of your face.

Fingerprints? I haven't ever had that happen. Perhaps only certain countries?

People from (all?) visa waiver countries have their fingerprints taken when entering the US, in addition to having to submit an ESTA[0] application before arrival. Last I checked, it still asked for all your social media handles (although you're not required to provide them).

0: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_System_for_Travel_A...

Re: Senators say TSA's facial recognition program is out of control

#150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem is that by this it becomes ever more difficult to get rid of an oppressive, dictatorial, unelected and violent Government.

For people unfamiliar with this topic, it is commonly referred to as "Turnkey Tyranny". It is about the belief that you "don't give Mr Rogers any power you wouldn't give to Hitler." Basically no matter how great you think your current leader is, you recognize that they will not be in power forever (or that they may not be good forever). Democracy, autocracy, oligarchy, whatever your system of government, there is a s…

This is basically the intent of the structure of the US government.

High degree of separation of powers (unlike most other democracies, the executive is separate from the legislative and there are two independent legislative bodies). High level of agreement across multiple bodies before a law can be passed (House, Senate and President).

I thought Scalia's explanation was a good one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ggz_gd--UO0

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