L2 SUNDAY, AUGUST 25, 2019 LATIMES.COM/TRAVEL
BEFORE YOU GO
Who’s in charge? The Department of
Homeland Security’s U.S. Customs and
Border Protection unit is leading the
charge, promoting the technology on its
website as “the ideal technology path to
a more seamless travel experience.”
President Trump added urgency with a
2017 order that called for security offi-
cials to make biometrics a priority.
Meanwhile, the Transportation
Security Administration, another
Homeland Security agency, has been
collaborating with CBP on biometrics
and has set a series of goals. One is
face-scanning travelers in TSA
Precheck lines (and integrating that
data with fingerprints). Another is face
scanning more domestic travelers (on a
voluntary basis) and perhaps integrat-
ing that data with driver’s license data
by way of Homeland Security’s Real ID
program.
How fast is this moving? In an April
report, Homeland Security officials said
that within four years, they intend to
scan the faces of 97% of passengers,
including U.S. citizens and foreign
nationals, on outbound international
flights.
The agency already has scanned the
faces of more than 25 million passen-
gers, apprehended 180 impostors and
confirmed that more than 20,000 trav-
elers had overstayed their visas, a CBP
spokesperson said Aug. 14.
Meanwhile, Britain, China, Singa-
pore, Malaysia and the United Arab
Emirates are exploring biometrics, and
many airlines see this as a chance to
speed operations. Among the U.S.
carriers working with CBP: American,
Delta, JetBlue and United. One recent
report predicted the facial recognition
market worldwide would grow from $3.2
billion in sales in 2019 to $7 billion in 2024.
How many U.S. airports are doing it?
Ongoing biometric exit operations
(including facial recognition) are used
at 22 U.S. airports, including LAX, San
Diego and San Francisco, a CBP
spokesperson reported in an Aug. 14
email.
The agency also is doing biometric
entry processing at 11 U.S. airports,
including LAX, San Diego and San Jose,
and at airports in Abu Dhabi, United
Arab Emirates; Aruba; and Dublin and
Shannon, Ireland, that send travelers to
the U.S. CBP is also scanning at three
seaports in Florida and one in New
Jersey. CBP location lists can be found
at cbp.gov/travel/biometrics.
What’s up at LAX? LAX’s Bradley
International Terminal has three gates
(152, 154 and 156, as of mid-August)
where biometric facial scanners are
used, all in collaboration with CBP and
scanner manufacturer Vision-Box,
airport spokesman Frederick Badlissi
said. Those gates handle Air France,
British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Finn-
air, Korean Air, KLM, Lufthansa, Qan-
tas, Singapore and Norwegian airlines.
CBP also ran test programs last year
at Terminal 4.
A CBP spokesperson said the CBP
and TSA biometric initiatives so far
“only include international travel,” not
domestic flights. But Clear, a private
company that offers its subscription
biometric ID system to speed along
domestic and global travelers, has lanes
and enrollment stations at LAX termi-
nals 1 through 7.
How does facial recognition work?
Passengers submit to a photo instead of
showing a passport or boarding pass.
Authorities access encrypted cloud
data, then compare the fresh image
against existing images in government
databases.
If no match materializes, airlines or
CBP officials ask for ID or run checks
with more government sources.
CBP officials say the process takes
just under two seconds per person,
with an accuracy rate of more than 97%.
Airlines and airports often buy the
cameras that take the photos, then link
the resulting images to CBP’s biomet-
ric matching service (which relies on a
“matching engine” from NEC Corp.).
Airlines, airports and the TSA can
access that matching service at
check-in, bag drop, security check-
points or boarding, the CBP spokes-
person said.
What happens to these new photos?
CBP says that “all photos of U.S.
Citizens are deleted within 12 hours of
identity verification.” Images of nonciti-
zens may be retained longer, even up to
75 years, depending on circumstances.
The CBP noted in a report last year
that “an approved partner may collect
photos of travelers using its own equip-
ment under its own separate business
process for commercial purposes.”
What if I say no?The CBP and TSA say
that U.S. citizens have that right and
that airport authorities should be
ready to process travelers the old-
fashioned way. (Some noncitizens can
say no, but for many it’s required. For
details, check CBP’s FAQs at bit.ly/
biometricexitfaqs.)
CBP said it has not tracked the
number of travelers opting out. The
Electronic Frontier Foundation, a foe of
facial recognition, said that many
travelers may not realize they can say
no.
What do critics say?Many say that
CBP technology is fallible, that facial
recognition software elsewhere has
delivered inaccurate results and that
this new approach can undercut civil
liberties.
In San Francisco and Somerville,
Mass., city councils have banned their
police from using facial recognition
software.
U.S. Sens. Edward J. Markey (D-
Mass.) and Mike Lee (R-Utah) wrote a
letter July 26 calling for greater trans-
parency, warning of data leaks and
asking why Homeland Security has
failed to release a biometrics report
that was due July 2.
“American travelers deserve to fully
understand exactly who has access to
their biometric data, how long their
data will be held, how their information
will be safeguarded, and how they can
opt out of this data collection,” Markey
and Lee wrote in the letter.
The CBP spokesperson said Aug. 14
that Homeland Security’s biometric
report “is in the internal review proc-
ess.”
Fight for the Future, a privacy advo-
cacy group, has launched a banfacial
recognition.comcampaign calling for
travelers to avoid airlines that use the
technology. If the government had
facial recognition surveillance technol-
ogy at the time of the Stonewall Riots in
New York in 1969, Fight for the Future
spokeswoman Evan Greer said, “it’s
hard to imagine the LGBT rights move-
ment ever forming.”
Michael Kirkham
ON THE SPOT CHRISTOPHER REYNOLDS
Is facial scanning the
key to airport security?
Every day in airports across America, travelers confront facial recognition technology.¶It probably saves time. Federal
officials say it’s making us safer. And for the millions whose mobile phones already recognize faces, this would seem nothing
new.¶But how does old-fashioned privacy square with all these headshots and database comparisons? Where do the
data go? What happens if you say no?¶These and other questions arise at LAX and beyond as government and industry
leaders embrace biometric measures — especially facial recognition — and many privacy advocates resist. Some travelers’
questions are easy to answer. Others, not so much.
Aug. 11]: Car rental compa-
nies are notorious for these
practices. Some I under-
stand, such as extra insur-
ance or transponder fees
for tolls.
What gets me is quoting
a low-ball price, but when
you pick up the car, they’ve
added an extra charge for a
spouse or second driver,
taxes and airport fees that
were not included, and
drop-off fees for one-way
rentals.
I have stuck with Avis
because its charges are the
closest to what you actually
pay at the end of the rental
period. They have seldom
been more than a few cents
off what was originally
quoted.
Paul Brown
Santa Ana
Is it jet lag or
lack of sleep?
Regarding “Avoid Being
a Jet-Lagged Zombie:
Light and Liquids” [On the
Spot, by Chris Erskine,
Aug. 18], I do, as suggested,
try to arrive at my destina-
tion in the afternoon and
avoid caffeine after noon.
But I appreciated the
hydration suggestion.
The difference between
jet lag and sleep depriva-
tion also occurred to me,
because when I would fly
from LAX to Nashville, I
was not getting a full
night’s sleep before a 6 a.m.
departure. I was packing at
the last moment and get-
ting only a one- or two-hour
nap.
I wonder if others con-
fuse sleep deprivation with
jet lag.
John Loggins
Rancho Palos Verdes
Car rental fees
One last thing on hid-
den fees [“Suits Target
Resort Fee Shock,” On the
Spot, by Catharine Hamm,
FEEDBACK
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Vegas fine-art exhibit by
filmmaker Tim Burton
The setup sounds familiar: A cat, a cowboy and an art-
ist walk into a bar. The twist, of course, is that in Las
Vegas, a cat can have its own coffee bar, a singing cowboy
can command center stage, and a Hollywood director can
transform a neon sign “boneyard” into a fine-art exhibit.
On Oct. 15, film producer, director, writer, animator
and artist Tim Burton will debut “Lost Vegas: Tim Bur-
ton @ the Neon Museum,” an outsize, walk-around exhib-
it of vivid cartoon art that roller-coasters through the
Neon Museum’s Boneyard exhibition space, North
Gallery and Boneyard Park.
“Lost Vegas” will be Burton’s first American fine-art
exhibit since 2009, when he mounted a show that drew
810,500 visitors to New York’s Museum of Modern Art and
included zingers such as the prop of Sarah Jessica Park-
er’s severed head from Burton’s 1996 movie, “Mars At-
tacks!,” which liberally incorporated the Neon Museum.
Tickets, which cost $30, are on sale. The exhibit runs 9
a.m. to 1 a.m. daily through Feb. 15.
Info: (702) 387-6366, neonmuseum.org
— Michael Hiller
Check out the upgrades at SFO
Here’s good news for anyone heading to or through
San Francisco International Airport. SFO has completed
the first phase of a Terminal 1 redevelopment, giving trav-
elers a series of bright, airy spaces and a bevy of new eat-
eries and retail spaces. An airport Grand Hyatt hotel is to
follow in October.
The $2.4-billion project, officially Harvey Milk Termi-
nal 1, won’t be completed until 2022, but the first phase
was unveiled July 23. Several restaurants and retailers are
open, as is a museum exhibition on the life and times of
Milk, a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervi-
sors who was killed in 1978 while in office.
The terminal includes 25 gates — nine are open — and
handles domestic flights, including many Southwest
flights from LAX, Burbank and Ontario.
Restaurants open so far include: Little Chihuahua
(taqueria), Bun Mee (Vietnamese sandwiches), Bourbon
Pub (from celebrity chef Michael Mina), Starbird
Chicken, Illy Caffe and Amy’s Drive Thru (American food,
lots of organic, vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free fare).
The Grand Hyatt at SFO will have 351 rooms. It is ac-
cepting reservations for stays beginning Oct. 1.
— Christopher Reynolds
Great summer photos? Send ’em!
We’re seeking your summer vacation photos for pos-
sible inclusion in the Travel section’s Sept. 22 print edi-
tion and the online photo gallery.
The photos must have been taken between May 25 and
Sept. 2, from the beginning of Memorial Day weekend to
the end of Labor Day.
To submit photos, go to bit.ly/summerphotos2019. You
must do so by 6 p.m. Sept. 6.
Files must be at least 1 MB, and you can submit up to 10
images. You may use smartphone photos. We are seeking
photos from amateurs, not professionals.
We will need your contact information in case we have
a question about your photo. It will not to be used for mar-
keting or any other purpose.
— Times staff
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