Biometrics are transforming the way we travel. The technology, which identifies travelers using unique physical traits like fingerprints and faces, is becoming more common at airports in the United States. As a result, time-consuming rituals that once required repeated ID checks — such as bag dropping, security screening and boarding — are getting easier and faster.
Some experts believe that this will be the year that biometric use, primarily facial recognition, becomes standard at many airports. The technology offers several advantages: enhanced security, quicker processing of passengers and a more convenient airport experience. It also raises concerns about privacy, ethics and the possibility of broader surveillance.
In today’s newsletter, I’ll explain how biometrics are already altering many travelers’ airport experiences, and how critics are pushing back.
Change is here
T.S.A. checkpoints at dozens of airports across the country, from Denver to Miami, look different than they did only a few years ago.
The agency is using technology that takes a photo of a traveler and swiftly matches it to a scan of their ID. This process will expand to around 400 more airports in the coming years, though it remains optional; travelers can still go through security the old-fashioned way if they prefer.
The T.S.A. has also developed programs with some airlines to enable PreCheck travelers, who are approved for expedited screenings at more than 200 airports, to check bags and even pass through security checkpoints by just showing their faces, no ID scan required. Airlines say these changes can save substantial time and make a noticeable difference in moving passengers through the airport.
Travelers will also have their identities confirmed by facial recognition when they are entering or leaving the United States. The government’s biometric entry system is fully operational, and the system to identify departing travelers using facial recognition is now in place at nearly 50 airports. It is set to be installed at every airport with international departures by 2026.
Privacy concerns
Executives at various airlines tell me they believe passengers are becoming more comfortable with using biometrics in their daily lives. Many people regularly use facial recognition to unlock their phones, and shoppers can use their palms to pay for groceries at some Whole Foods stores.
But not everyone is happy with the technology’s growth. Critics say the systems lack guardrails to ensure people’s biological data is not misused. And, though they have improved over the years, facial-recognition algorithms have historically been shown to work better on white faces.
The Traveler Privacy Protection Act, a bill introduced by Senators Jeff Merkley, a Democrat from Oregon, and John Kennedy, a Republican from Louisiana, seeks to halt the T.S.A.’s ongoing facial-recognition program. The bill’s sponsors say they have serious concerns regarding security and the possibility of racial discrimination.
Cody Venzke, senior policy counsel on privacy and technology at the American Civil Liberties Union, said the government had not yet shown a demonstrated need for facial-recognition technology at airports. And he expressed concern over what he called the “nuclear scenario.”
“Facial recognition technology,” he said, could be “the foundation for a really robust and widespread government surveillance and tracking network.”
Read my full story on the rise of biometrics at airports, which includes details on the risks of using your face as an ID and forthcoming facial-recognition expansions from major airlines.
NEWS
Donald Trump
The Sunday question: Is A.I. the future of work?
Artificial intelligence has become a priority for business leaders in 2024. “We will look back in a few years and recognize that the growth of A.I. has actually helped to unlock our human potential,” Simon Freakley writes for MarketWatch.
But whether A.I. is helpful isn’t so important if it’s unwanted: “That A.I. assistant may be fabulous, or it may be an intrusive, buggy timesink that imposes its own ideas on your work,” Rupert Goodwins writes for The Register.
The pour: Sommeliers, once as an essential feature of any establishment serious about wine, seem to be a luxury in the post-pandemic restaurant economy.
Blaxit: The Covid pandemic and the racial reckoning after the murder of George Floyd led some Black Americans to seek a new life in Africa.
Mysterious motif: As the climate shifted about 8,200 years ago, cave-dwellers in one of the last places settled by humans began painting a comblike pattern.
Vows: For one couple, the worlds of New York theater and trucking made a surprisingly perfect match.
Lives Lived: Alvin Moscow wrote a best-selling account of the sinking of the ocean liner Andrea Doria in 1956, then collaborated on the memoirs of several public figures, including Richard Nixon. He died at 98.
TALK | FROM THE TIMES MAGAZINE
I spoke with the celebrated novelist Marilynne Robinson, author of a new nonfiction book on Genesis, about American goodness and her friendship with Barack Obama.
I know that during Obama’s presidency, you became friendly acquaintances with him. Have you continued that discussion with him since he left office?
No, I haven’t, and it’s my fault. For years, I wrote letters to him quite consistently, and he wrote back to me, and it was wonderful. I stopped writing the letters. I apologize to him a million times over.
Obama has been making podcasts and films. I wonder if that says something about America and aspirations. Even this guy wanted to go to Hollywood and make content. I find that a little dispiriting.
Well, I think that’s partly why I didn’t know how to speak to him anymore. It was like he chose to step into another kind of life that’s very remote to mine. Myself, I like books.
I have a theory about the lapsing of your relationship with Obama. You said that you felt as though you didn’t know how to speak to him anymore. It suggested to me that you saw him as a kind of avatar of American democracy. Then when he was in the world of Hollywood deals, that wasn’t something that you could connect with symbolically, and that’s why you felt like you couldn’t talk to him.
I think it’s pretty descriptive actually. My admiration for him is great, and I’m sure that he’s doing things of real value. I think he stepped back because he does not want to be seen as a competitor with President Biden. Because Obama’s signature quality was youth, and Biden’s is age. I’m less than a year younger than Joe Biden, so I believe utterly in his competence, his brilliance, his worldview. I consider him a gift of God. All 81 years of him.
Read more of the interview here.
More from the magazine
BOOKS
“We’re going to stand up”: Queer literature is booming in Africa.
Inside the best-seller list: Dolly Alderton, the British author of “Good Material,” has an eye for bit players, including ones who nudge, nag and blurt inconvenient truths.
Our editors’ picks: “The Rebel’s Clinic,” a biography of the Black psychiatrist and revolutionary Frantz Fanon, and eight other books.
Times best sellers: Kristin Hannah’s Vietnam War-era novel “The Women” debuts atop the hardcover fiction best-seller list.
THE MORNING RECOMMENDS …
Learn how to make one of Cooking’s most popular recipes.
Listen to a podcast about politics and dating.
Sleep alongside a stuffed animal.
Slice bread with ease with this knife.
THE WEEK AHEAD
What to Watch For
The BAFTAs — Britain’s foremost award ceremony for film and television — are today.
The International Court of Justice is holding public hearings tomorrow on Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories. An opinion would be advisory and nonbinding.
The Conservative Political Action Conference begins Wednesday. Trump and Javier Milei, president of Argentina, are confirmed as speakers.
South Carolina’s Republican primary election is Saturday.
What to Cook This Week