I would like to opt-out as well, but it seems it actually was quite easy. All she had to do was say that she wants the passport to be scanned. Good to know.
I Opted Out of Facial Recognition at the Airport – It Wasn't Easy
121–130 of 191 posts
Re: I Opted Out of Facial Recognition at the Airport – It Wasn't Easy
#122Earlier quoted context omitted.
Going against implicit expectations of others and being the only one who does something is maybe the hardest thing humans can do. Opting out could risk holding up the boarding process, possibly missing the flight, unpleasant treatment by security and being pitted against the other passengers - all of it to opt out of something is clearly a dark pattern. All of this is very well understood by the people who designed t…
Yes I asked if I could get a pat down instead of the backscatter x-ray at Heathrow. Was made to feel like a criminal, questioned etc and put under pressure. And then to be told I don't have to get scanned but I can't get on my flight unless I do. There wasn't even an opt out.
That goes completely counter to my experiences. From 2009 to 2017 I chose to "opt out" every time. Here's what happened for me each time:
1. They make you wait while they get someone to do the work.
2. They offer to take you somewhere private (I declined).
3. They tell you the routine ("I'm gonna go up your leg until I feel resistance").
4. They wipe their gloves and put them in a chemical detector.
5. They let you go.
Only once did I have to get an extra exam where they detected some chemical on me and had to do that whole wipe down + chemical test process on my carry-on. It wasn't a big deal.
In 2017 I finally got TSA Precheck. So I've very rarely had to go through this since then (flying w/ non-Precheck friend, flying at non-Precheck airport).
EDIT: My experience is from US only. I missed that the parent's description was from the UK.
Re: I Opted Out of Facial Recognition at the Airport – It Wasn't Easy
#123Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yes I asked if I could get a pat down instead of the backscatter x-ray at Heathrow. Was made to feel like a criminal, questioned etc and put under pressure. And then to be told I don't have to get scanned but I can't get on my flight unless I do. There wasn't even an opt out.
That goes completely counter to my experiences. From 2009 to 2017 I chose to "opt out" every time. Here's what happened for me each time: 1. They make you wait while they get someone to do the work. 2. They offer to take you somewhere private (I declined). 3. They tell you the routine ("I'm gonna go up your leg until I feel resistance"). 4. They wipe their gloves and put them in a chemical detector. 5. They let you g…
His experience was in the UK.
Re: I Opted Out of Facial Recognition at the Airport – It Wasn't Easy
#124I was at London's Gatwick Airport last week, where facial recognition was being trialed at the boarding gate for my flight. On the way, multiple, large signs announced the trial. At the gate itself, there was a prominent notice addressing travelers' privacy (and other) concerns - several paragraphs of large text. It was clearly mentioned that, for people who were reluctant to use the new technology, there would be at…
Sounds like GDPR having its desired effect
Re: I Opted Out of Facial Recognition at the Airport – It Wasn't Easy
#125I see the issue with false positive, but I don't get the privacy argument here. Scanning your face vs your passport is not any different from privacy perspective.
Re: I Opted Out of Facial Recognition at the Airport – It Wasn't Easy
#126Earlier quoted context omitted.
> It seems to me that the only way to resist is to take a very hard rejection of facial recognition entirely in any situation. Realistically the only way to resist is to develop an informed, engaged populace. There's a huge gulf between "facial recognition for crossing international borders" and "facial recognition for getting on the subway" - the former is obviously beneficial and the latter is obviously a massive o…
I would argue against the first being obviously beneficial. The downsides of having such a system in place in my opinion outweighs any current or foreseeable benefit. One step further, I have yet to hear of a scenario where facial recognition would be a positive application. In my opinion the complete rejection is the right approach when it comes to facial recognition. Being able to automatically identify a person wi…
I believe "facial recognition for crossing an international border" is an obvious benefit because, look, the world is not all sunshine and daisies and it's important that we're able to validate that a person going from one country to another is who they say they are.
You seem to be operating under the core assumption that because we as a society allow facial recognition in that situation it will inevitably expand to others, and that's exactly the point I was trying to make in the first place. If an educated and well-informed populace says "no, we will not allow this technology to be used outside of these specific circumstances" and then enforces that position at the ballot box, there won't be a problem. Unfortunately most people just don't care, and no amount of technological backtracking will fix that.
In other words, don't worry about the tech; worry about the people that make the tech matter.
Re: I Opted Out of Facial Recognition at the Airport – It Wasn't Easy
#127I see the issue with false positive, but I don't get the privacy argument here. Scanning your face vs your passport is not any different from privacy perspective.
Imagine this:
"Years from now, the party/person in power goes completely nuts, and starts rounding people up in train cars to ship off to a final solution facility... would you prefer to try to sneak out of the country when: A. only your passport/papers identify you, or B. your face can be recognized from any video camera in the country..."
Re: I Opted Out of Facial Recognition at the Airport – It Wasn't Easy
#128Airports hve got to be 100% covered with cameras that CBP could easily get access to—why is taking a single still photo—to be matched to the passport photo they already have—such a big deal?
Re: I Opted Out of Facial Recognition at the Airport – It Wasn't Easy
#129Earlier quoted context omitted.
That goes completely counter to my experiences. From 2009 to 2017 I chose to "opt out" every time. Here's what happened for me each time: 1. They make you wait while they get someone to do the work. 2. They offer to take you somewhere private (I declined). 3. They tell you the routine ("I'm gonna go up your leg until I feel resistance"). 4. They wipe their gloves and put them in a chemical detector. 5. They let you g…
His experience was in the UK.
I was able to opt out in Dublin at the secondary security point (where one clears immigration in Dublin for US-bound flights, so I think that particular scanner was operated at the direction of the US authorities).
I have not tried to opt out of a pure-EU/UK scanner, so your point is still valid. I suspect Toronto may work the same way.
Re: I Opted Out of Facial Recognition at the Airport – It Wasn't Easy
#130Earlier quoted context omitted.
But were you facially scanned?
At Immigration: Scanned, no, Photographed, yes. (So depending on your definition) At TSA, They scan the first page of passport (or local ID) and usually Full body scan. So in the strict sense of facially scanned no. At the gate (until now), neither. They would scan the boarding pass and eyeball the passport if international. Again the point here is that in the first two instances these are Government agencies doing t…
They submit the data to the CBP database and get a result back. It will help to validate exit reporting and ensure that the right people are being reported as leaving the country on their I-94s