The Transportation Security Administration has been rolling out a new program that is designed to streamline security procedures at airports across the country.
The new program revolves around facial recognition.
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At the airports where the program is running, passengers can walk up to a checkpoint, place a photo ID in a slot and look at a facial recognition camera. The technology verifies the ID and makes sure the ID holder is who they say they are. When the screen says "photo complete," the passenger simply walks through.
A TSA agent signs off on each scan.
The voluntary program is running at 16 airports, according to AP. It's in use -- though not available at every checkpoint -- at Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport as well as Reagan National, in addition to a handful of other airports across the country.
Though the program is designed to increase efficiency, the privacy risks posed by this biometric technology are potentially severe.
An open letter sent in February to the TSA by several prominent senators, including Elizabeth Warren and Cory Booker, called the pilot program a threat to democracy.
"Increasing biometric surveillance of Americans by the government represents a risk to civil liberties and privacy rights," the letter reads.
The senators listed three main areas of concern.
One is that, while the program is currently voluntary, it remains "unclear" how passengers will know they don't have to participate.
They are also concerned about the opportunity for racial discrimination that facial recognition software invites. Citing a 2019 study by the National Institute of Standards and Technology, the letter says that Asian and African American people were around 100 times more likely to be misidentified by facial recognition than white men.
The senators are additionally worried about the security and safety of stored biometric data that could be stolen in potential data breaches.
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