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Czech police forced to turn off facial recognition cameras at the Prague airport

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Re: Czech police forced to turn off facial recognition cameras at the Prague airport

#41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Additionally, you are subjected to baggage and carry-on inspection, as well as body inspection and metal detection, etc. There are cameras everywhere, monitoring and recording everything Well, yeah, all of that presents a privacy problem. Automation is taking it a step further, but if I had my way boarding a plane would be like boarding a train or bus. I could concede a fast-moving checkpoint that does some best-ef…

>Securing the cockpit doors on planes is a good idea though. Unless your pilot is having a particularly bad day. I did recently see a video of a pilot that proposed to his girlfriend as she boarded his plane. I bet all the passengers were thinking "Please, please say 'yes'", and were overly-happy both for the newly-engaged couple, and more for themselves that she did. No, I don't have an answer to the door problem.

Eh, vetting pilots rigorously seems like it would 99% solve this. That and having more than one pilot in the cockpit makes rogue situations vanishingly unlikely, and that's the best you can do in any safety situation.

Re: Czech police forced to turn off facial recognition cameras at the Prague airport

#43

I assumed that every airport does it as a matter of policy. A border guard in the UK told me the reason they don't bother checking your passport when you leave is because they check your face on camera. In this case it seems like a legitimate use of facial recognition: catching criminals. The story is of interest to me because i've been through the airport many times. I guess they have a picture of me. ot but in many…

Border guard was wrong. UK used passenger records from transport companies to determine when someone left the country, not face recognition.

They do however use face recognition when you take a domestic flight from an international terminal. Then they take a photo of you just before security and compare that when you board. To me this seems like an overly complex solution to a problem that would normally by solved by having a domestic section of the terminal, but I’m sure they had their reasons.

Re: Czech police forced to turn off facial recognition cameras at the Prague airport

#44
post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the 70's, way before any internet databases and real-time data aggregation & automated analysis, you had to show ID to buy beer. So what? What do you suppose that proves or justifies or excuses? The ID served a valid purpose of controlling who had access to beer, yet did not track anyone's movements or habits or compile a profile on them or associate them with others into cohorts or allow anyone to presume to make…

When you go through airport security, they scan your license. They're already doing everything people in this thread fear... stopping facial recognition doesn't change a thing expect let people with false identities through. It literally changes nothing... They already are keeping tabs on who you are, where you are coming from, and where you're going. Cohort analysis is already done via group ticket buys, and camera…

I already stole your left shoe, so, might as well just make it legal to steal right shoes.

Re: Czech police forced to turn off facial recognition cameras at the Prague airport

#45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Airports in UK have started lifting the fluid limits, the new X-ray machines are much better at determining the contents. So as airports upgrade those rules may finally be getting obsoleted.

Can't happen soon enough. My wife tried to bring home a nice little bottle of scotch from Edinburgh and security confiscated because they could not convince themselves that 10 dL They did offer to ship the bottle to us at our expense, but the shipping fee was over a hundred pounds and it was cheaper to buy a much larger bottle of the same stuff from an importer. I hope some day we can dispense with the security theat…

Hey man. 10dL = 1L

Re: Czech police forced to turn off facial recognition cameras at the Prague airport

#46
post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can't happen soon enough. My wife tried to bring home a nice little bottle of scotch from Edinburgh and security confiscated because they could not convince themselves that 10 dL They did offer to ship the bottle to us at our expense, but the shipping fee was over a hundred pounds and it was cheaper to buy a much larger bottle of the same stuff from an importer. I hope some day we can dispense with the security theat…

Hey man. 10dL = 1L

Plot twist: it was 10 deka-liters! (;->

Re: Czech police forced to turn off facial recognition cameras at the Prague airport

#47
post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is being in an airport actually considered private? It's a public space, and you must show ID to gain access to the secured area. Additionally, you are subjected to baggage and carry-on inspection, as well as body inspection and metal detection, etc. There are cameras everywhere, monitoring and recording everything. Presumably this system was designed to recognize individuals that may be traveling under false-identit…

> Additionally, you are subjected to baggage and carry-on inspection, as well as body inspection and metal detection, etc. There are cameras everywhere, monitoring and recording everything Well, yeah, all of that presents a privacy problem. Automation is taking it a step further, but if I had my way boarding a plane would be like boarding a train or bus. I could concede a fast-moving checkpoint that does some best-ef…

Ironically what you describe was air travel in the 1980s-1990s, despite several high profile airline hijackings.

The hijackings didn’t make people go crazy.

Unticketed passengers even could walk up to the gate.

Identification wasn’t even checked while boarding — just a ticket was required.

How far we’ve fallen…

Re: Czech police forced to turn off facial recognition cameras at the Prague airport

#48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Additionally, you are subjected to baggage and carry-on inspection, as well as body inspection and metal detection, etc. There are cameras everywhere, monitoring and recording everything Well, yeah, all of that presents a privacy problem. Automation is taking it a step further, but if I had my way boarding a plane would be like boarding a train or bus. I could concede a fast-moving checkpoint that does some best-ef…

Ironically what you describe was air travel in the 1980s-1990s, despite several high profile airline hijackings. The hijackings didn’t make people go crazy. Unticketed passengers even could walk up to the gate. Identification wasn’t even checked while boarding — just a ticket was required. How far we’ve fallen…

Identification often isn't ever checked when flying within Europe _today_. They just check your ticket.

That said you're certainly not getting near any gates without a ticket in Europe these days either.

Re: Czech police forced to turn off facial recognition cameras at the Prague airport

#49

I assumed that every airport does it as a matter of policy. A border guard in the UK told me the reason they don't bother checking your passport when you leave is because they check your face on camera. In this case it seems like a legitimate use of facial recognition: catching criminals. The story is of interest to me because i've been through the airport many times. I guess they have a picture of me. ot but in many…

Border guard was wrong. UK used passenger records from transport companies to determine when someone left the country, not face recognition. They do however use face recognition when you take a domestic flight from an international terminal. Then they take a photo of you just before security and compare that when you board. To me this seems like an overly complex solution to a problem that would normally by solved by…

And this week it's lead to people's child benefits being stopped because they were deemed to have left the country and not returned, because their names were on passenger manifests: https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/oct/31/woman-flight...

God, a well functioning democractic society, the UK is not...

Re: Czech police forced to turn off facial recognition cameras at the Prague airport

#50
post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is being in an airport actually considered private? It's a public space, and you must show ID to gain access to the secured area. Additionally, you are subjected to baggage and carry-on inspection, as well as body inspection and metal detection, etc. There are cameras everywhere, monitoring and recording everything. Presumably this system was designed to recognize individuals that may be traveling under false-identit…

It's not the airport specifically, it's the use of automated facial recognition at all. Many former Warsaw Pact citizens have lived under a surveillance state with a dossier on every citizen, and didn't find it particularly great.

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