3 years after pilot, PHL installs more face-scanning tech for international travel

Technical.ly first wrote about the artificial intelligence-based technology, which compares a live photo to images that the traveler has previously provided to the government — like a passport or visa photo — in early 2020. The airport was testing biometric screening as part of its work with US Customs and Border Patrol (CBP), and was initially testing three different scanning machines over a 45-day period.

As of this month, the airport said it would be installing facial biometric technology at 25 boarding gates in Terminals A-East and A-West. The goal is to help CBP process departing passengers on international flights more “safely and efficiently.” CBP has a congressional mandate following 9/11 to biometrically record all non-US citizens who enter and exit the United States.

Of the three systems that were piloted in 2020, veriScan, NEC and SITA, the airport will be using SITA’s Smart Path solution powered by the NEC I:Delight digital identity management platform.

It’ll work like this: Passengers will step up to a camera at the boarding gate, which will verify their identify before boarding in just a few seconds. They won’t need to present a passport or boarding pass — the system captures the passenger’s image as they enter the biometric touchpoint and then matches against existing images held within the CBP’s database. Once verified, the passenger can board their aircraft.

Those who don’t want to participate in the facial biometric boarding process can notify either a CBP officer or an airline rep and instead request a manual document check, per PHL. If you’re a US citizen, you can choose to be scanned by the Smart Path platform if you’d like, and your photo will be deleted from the system within 12 hours, while non-US citizens’ photos are stored in a DHS database.

Biometric tracking via travelers’ fingerprints and photos has been required for non US-citizens since 2004, but as technology has evolved, facial scanning technology has also been implemented into border control tactics. NEC, which co-produced the Smart Path platform, touts that it’s now used for “fighting crime, preventing fraud, securing public safety, and improving customer experience across a vast range of locations and industries.”

Per Joseph Martella, CBP’s area port director for the Area Port of Philadelphia, his agency “has processed more than 249 million travelers through facial biometrics and prevented more than 1,650 impostors from illegally entering the country.”

“PHL spent a significant amount of time to find the best solution for the airport,” said Allen Mehta, PHL’s chief information officer, in a statement. “Our goal was to find a viable solution that not only met the basic requirements from the Department of Homeland Security but also to have partners with experience in airports and biometrics solutions around the world.”

The implementation of the technology at the Philly airport will roll out over the next few months, starting with 10 gates in A terminal, which are already up and running. Another set of 10 gates will be installed by mid-February, and five more gates will be added by mid-April.

###

Nervous about the prospect of the federal government collecting more of your data? As explained by a Penn State computer science researcher in fall 2022, in general, that fear is not unfounded:

“Despite the important and ever-increasing role of artificial intelligence in many parts of modern society, there is very little policy or regulation governing the development and use of AI systems in the US. Tech companies have largely been left to regulate themselves in this arena, potentially leading to decisions and situations that have garnered criticism. …

There are some government recommendations and guidance regarding AI use. But in early October 2022, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy added to federal guidance in a big way by releasing the Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights.”

Read Brookings’ analysis on that blueprint, which spells out “five principles that should guide the design, use, and deployment of automated systems to protect the American public in the age of artificial intelligence,” here.