US discusses ethics of biometric travel | Biometric Update

As U.S. lawmakers debate the Traveler Privacy Protection Act, government agencies, including the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), are working on dispelling ethics and privacy concerns around biometrics in border control.

Transparency about the technology’s efficiency, error rate and data use is critical, says Arun Vemury, director of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Science & Technology Directorate’s Biometric and Identity Technology Center.

“We need to make sure we can do some public reporting so that people understand and have greater confidence in how the data is being handled, not only by the government but by the private sector as well,” says Vemury, adding that sharing biometric data needs to have limits.

Officials, however, warn that the state must do its own share in keeping up legislation and standards with the advancement of biometric technology. Legislation, industry and academia need to collaborate to prevent the use of defective algorithms while Congress should consider providing unique legislation on biometric data, according to experts quoted by federal IT trade publication GovCIO.

Meanwhile, some stakeholders believe some of the legislation currently proposed by U.S. lawmakers will introduce hurdles to adopting biometrics in airport security. The Traveler Privacy Protection Act would require TSA to end its biometric traveler verification program and acquire congressional approval before deploying facial recognition.

Abandoning facial recognition, however, would set back security and convenience, Ján Lunter, co-founder and CEO of Innovatrics, writes for the International Airport Review.

“By imposing restrictions and complicating procedures, the Act impedes the realization of the benefits that biometrics offer,” says Lunter. “While the Act does not directly impact fingerprint recognition, it introduces complexities that hinder operational efficiency. Fingerprint checks require specialized hardware and trained personnel, rendering them less conducive to automation compared to facial recognition e-gates.”

Airport executives support expanding technology

Technology will inevitably become a part of the airport environment, executives gathered at the annual Airports Council International-North America (ACI-NA) Conference told Aviation Week.

“The more technologically efficient an airport becomes, the more welcoming it is to passengers and the better it is for airlines,” says Kevin Burke, ACI-NA president and CEO.

Some of the more recent upgrades in airport technology were recorded at the Daytona Beach International Airport (DAB). The airport has signed a multi-year contract with Los Angeles-based systems engineering company Birdi Systems to provide facial recognition cameras, an integrated video management system, an access control system and other technology.

One of the key components is the Birdi System’s Federated and Integrated Services for Credentialing (FISC) software for ID management and credentialing. The upgraded security systems are scheduled to go live in the fall of 2024, the company says in a release.

SITA pushes for more biometric tech integrations

Three out of four passengers are comfortable with storing their passports on their smartphones through a verifiable digital identity, the Digital Travel Credential (DTC), according to a new survey published by SITA.

The air transport communications and IT multinational surveyed 7,000 passengers across  25 countries in the Americas, Asia and EMEA.

The 2024 Passenger IT Insight also revealed that most passengers (64 percent) put shorter airport queues as the most desirable improvement during travel. But although biometric technology can deliver such improvements, half of the survey takers expressed concerns about data privacy. Passengers, however, still rated their comfort levels with biometrics relatively highly, totaling 6.7 out of 10.

SITA’s experience in providing biometric tech includes the Star Alliance Biometric initiative and the Indian government’s Digi Yatra program. The company offers biometric-based travel solutions such as Smart Path and SITA Flex and is developing Digital Travel Credentials (DTC) as a member of the IATA One ID initiative and the International Civil Aviation Organization’s DTC.

The company reported nearly $1.5 billion in 2023 revenues this year with record sales of airport biometrics, digital identity projects and other software and IT infrastructure for the aviation industry.

One promising market for the expansion of biometric technology is Brazil thanks to its booming tourism economy, SITA said in a recent blog post. With 3.6 million international visitors, Brazil is the fifth most visited country in Latin America.

“The country, often seen as outdated in relation to emerging technologies, shows significant potential and is advancing rapidly towards the implementation of biometric solutions,” says the firm.

Among other collaborations is the Kotoka International Airport (KIA) in Ghana which recently announced the introduction of e-gates by December this year. Passengers can simply scan their Ghana card and go through biometric self-boarding, according to news outlet Citi News.

SITA signed a five-year agreement with the Ghana Airports Company (GACL) in 2019 to maintain and operate key systems across the airport’s new terminal T3, including all passenger processing. The terminal was funded consortium of banks led by Ecobank Capital and the African Development Bank (AfDB).

Expanded biometric touchpoints in Indonesia

Meanwhile, Indonesia has expanded biometric touchpoints from Vision-Box across two of its most popular airports the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport (CGK), or Cengkareng Airport in the capital of Jakarta and the I Gusti Ngurah Rai International Airport (DPS) in Bali, also known as Denpasar International Airport.

The project began in 2023 in Jakarta with 78 automated gates and has been expanded in Bali where 90 gates have been installed.  Since the deployment, more than 6 million travelers have scanned their passports and completed biometric verification, says Vision-Box, an Amadeus company known for its biometrics-based travel products.

Indonesia’s air travel is projected to exceed 200 million passengers annually by 2030.

Digi Yatra comes to nine more airports

India’s facial recognition-based passenger verification system Digi Yatra is expanding to nine more airports. The contactless system is fully operational at airports in Visakhapatnam, Patna, Raipur, Bhubaneswar, Goa (Dabolim), Indore, Ranchi, Coimbatore and Bagdogra, The Print reports.

Around 30 million passengers are already storing their information on mobile devices through Digi Yatra and using it for check-in, security and boarding process, according to Civil Aviation Minister Kinjarapu Ram Mohan Naidu. Over a dozen airports have installed the system while Dig iYatra is also hoping to offer biometric check-in at hotels and access to gated public spaces.

The Minister also revealed that the government-made system will be rolled out across all airports in the country. He assured that Digi Yatra was equipped with robust privacy protection after the system was marred this year by surreptitious enrolments and alleged data breaches.

Digi Yatra has recently received support from India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Article Topics

airports  |  Amadeus  |  biometrics  |  Birdi System  |  contactless biometrics  |  data privacy  |  Digi Yatra  |  digital identity  |  face biometrics  |  Innovatrics  |  SITA  |  Vision-Box