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‘Biometric Exit’ Quietly Expands Across U.S. Airports, Unnerving Some

Posted on 9/28/25 at 1:30 pm
Posted by 4cubbies
Member since Sep 2008
58510 posts
Posted on 9/28/25 at 1:30 pm
quote:

The program, in which federal officers take departing international passengers’ photos, is set to grow, raising privacy concerns.

René Rodriguez accompanied his daughter to Ireland last month as she prepared for a fall semester abroad. As he boarded the flight from Boston Logan International Airport to Shannon Airport, he found two federal officers in the Jetway taking photos of passengers with their cellphones.

“It was an ambush,” Mr. Rodriguez said. “It really caught me by surprise, and really I felt violated in a lot of ways, because I didn’t give permission.”

Those officers were part of an expanding federal program called biometric exit, which involves taking photos of passengers leaving the country and applying facial recognition technology to ensure that travelers match their identification documents. This process is known as facial comparison.

For foreign nationals, the photos can remain in a database for up to 75 years. For U.S. citizens, the photos are matched to their passports and deleted within 12 hours, according to the Department of Homeland Security.


quote:

Keith Jeffries, the former federal security director of Los Angeles International Airport, said that because people’s appearances can change from the time they take their passport photos, biometric exit is a way to double-check a passenger’s identity. But, he said, the presence of federal agents in the Jetway seemed “strange.”
“Anytime you have federal agents in a Jetway, that is not common,” Mr. Jeffries said.

Today, 52 percent of departing air travelers are “biometrically confirmed,” according to Mr. Tanciar. Since June 2017, 810 million people have undergone the process; as of this month, 500,000 foreign nationals who have overstayed visas have been confirmed using this process, Mr. Tanciar said.

U.S. citizens can opt out and request to be verified manually by showing their passport to the C.B.P. officers or gate agents at the gate and undergoing a visual facial comparison.

Mr. Rodriguez said that an agent told him that in order to opt out, he would have to wait until others had boarded, which made him fear missing his flight. Mr. Tanciar stressed that biometric exit is quick and that the goal is not to delay flights or passengers.


Gift Article
Posted by 4cubbies
Member since Sep 2008
58510 posts
Posted on 9/28/25 at 1:34 pm to
While algorithms have people pointing fingers at each other over nonsense, the government is spying on us in very explicit ways.
Posted by Jbird
In Bidenville with EthanL
Member since Oct 2012
83033 posts
Posted on 9/28/25 at 1:36 pm to
Mask up
Posted by billjamin
Houston
Member since Jun 2019
16309 posts
Posted on 9/28/25 at 1:38 pm to
Ive already given them all my biometrics so I can drive, work offshore, own certain guns, get through airport security faster, etc.
Posted by dukkbill
Member since Aug 2012
1008 posts
Posted on 9/28/25 at 1:52 pm to
quote:

the government is spying on us in very explicit ways.


I'd prefer explicit to surreptitious. Nevertheless, I'm not sure of the central complaint on this one. Most of these items are Congressionally mandated as a response to 8 USC 1365b. That was passed in 2004, and has been 21 years in the making. The picture is still voluntary, and unless we think CBP is lying, subject to low retention time in government systems.

Short of advocating that the government should collect no information from departing citizens, are there specific objections to this technology? Unless you repeal the legislation, isn't this method better than pulling people out of line with no probable cause?
This post was edited on 9/28/25 at 1:53 pm
Posted by TigerBait1971
PTC GA
Member since Oct 2014
15902 posts
Posted on 9/28/25 at 2:00 pm to
It's a photo.

Global Entry has had this for years.
This post was edited on 9/28/25 at 2:03 pm
Posted by BoomerandSooner
Top of Texas
Member since Sep 2025
962 posts
Posted on 9/28/25 at 2:07 pm to
Seeing so many of the people in airports that are overweight and drunk, they should consider using "plyometrics" instead.

Posted by homesicktiger
High altitude hell
Member since Oct 2004
1541 posts
Posted on 9/28/25 at 2:11 pm to
Author's never travelled outside the U.S. either.
Posted by Tarps99
Lafourche Parish
Member since Apr 2017
11320 posts
Posted on 9/28/25 at 2:19 pm to
How about we worry more about arriving passengers instead of just departing?

To ensure they are US citizens and ensure visitors are just visiting and not planning on setting up shop.
Posted by SuperSaint
Sorting Out OT BS Since '2007'
Member since Sep 2007
147867 posts
Posted on 9/28/25 at 2:26 pm to
If you walk through an airport and board an airplane and it surprises you that there are video and still photos of you, you’re a brain dead rtard
Posted by Timeoday
Easter Island
Member since Aug 2020
17034 posts
Posted on 9/28/25 at 2:32 pm to
quote:

While algorithms have people pointing fingers at each other over nonsense, the government is spying on us in very explicit ways.


Extremely sophisticated cameras are everywhere in our lives and how did we let it happen? I can see future officials running on the platform of camera removal and winning by huge numbers. If not, then we need cameras in the government building, hallways, and offices livestreamed to the public so that we may see who is coming and going.

After all, if they are there for crime as they say, why are NG units being sent to cities to help with crime?
Posted by 632627
LA
Member since Dec 2011
14613 posts
Posted on 9/28/25 at 2:48 pm to
Do some of you live under a rock and not understand that technology exists, and has been integrated into security systems?
Posted by Bama Bird
Pittsburgh, PA
Member since Mar 2013
22549 posts
Posted on 9/28/25 at 2:57 pm to
You do realize they can see genitalia on the scanners, right? What you're talking about really isn't a big deal
Posted by 4cubbies
Member since Sep 2008
58510 posts
Posted on 9/28/25 at 3:00 pm to
Poison also exists. Do you expect the government to use it against American citizens? Do people who value freedom and privacy all “live under a rock?”

Plenty people here are extremely vocal about their disapproval of strangers using the wrong bathrooms but this is an issue where you encourage everyone to throw their hands up and shrug because technology exists?
Posted by 4cubbies
Member since Sep 2008
58510 posts
Posted on 9/28/25 at 3:02 pm to
quote:

You do realize they can see genitalia on the scanners, right? What you're talking about really isn't a big deal


The government collecting pictures of citizens living their lawful lives isn’t a big deal?
Posted by loogaroo
Welsh
Member since Dec 2005
39190 posts
Posted on 9/28/25 at 3:03 pm to
quote:

Ive already given them all my biometrics so I can drive, work offshore, own certain guns, get through airport security faster, etc.


Same. There’s no avoiding it. It amazes me how illegals got around it all so easily.
Posted by Bama Bird
Pittsburgh, PA
Member since Mar 2013
22549 posts
Posted on 9/28/25 at 3:09 pm to
When they already have a photo of you with your name, address, height, weight, hair and eye color... no it's really not. There is no reasonable expectation of privacy in a public setting
Posted by BoomerandSooner
Top of Texas
Member since Sep 2025
962 posts
Posted on 9/28/25 at 3:20 pm to
quote:

Plenty people here are extremely vocal about their disapproval of strangers using the wrong bathrooms




Strangers? You mean boys and men pretending to be women?

quote:

Poison also exists. Do you expect the government to use it against American citizens?


The government has been poisoning you for years if you are dumb enough to follow the Food Pyramid and buy overly processed foods allowed by the FDA.
.
Posted by dukkbill
Member since Aug 2012
1008 posts
Posted on 9/28/25 at 3:46 pm to
quote:

Do you expect the government to use [poison] against American citizens? Do


I can't imagine a context where this is analogous. I don't expect the government to use technology to intentionally harm or kill Americans. Closer to your example, I don't expect the government from foregoing the use of fingerprint or DNA testing left at the seen of a crime basec on concerns of freedom or privacy. I would expect before they collect it from my person or dwelling they get my consent or a warrant based on probable cause.

This is not in private, you can object and use other methods, the information is not retained long for US citizens, and it's only being done at ports of exit

It's not a red light cam, cell phone pinging records, ISP logs, public commons surveillance cams, FISA spying or surreptitious Snowden described monitoring systems. If you think they are lying, obviously that's different, but not the subject of your article.

Likewise, it's not requiring any additional bona Fides or credentialing required to travel that might be cumbersome for some citizens to obtain

There already exists BOLO processes and interrogations on probable cause at ports of entry and exit, there already exists a credentialing system to even enter must areas at points of departure. If you plan on returning and are a citizen, there already exists logs of your exit and credentialing with permanently kept photos. This seems to be no additional encroachment at all for US citizens. For foreign nationals, they will update biometric markers, but that doesn't seem to read on US citizen privacy concerns.

There are plenty of privacy concerns, but I don't see how this system creates sny additional encroachment
Posted by 4cubbies
Member since Sep 2008
58510 posts
Posted on 9/28/25 at 3:57 pm to
quote:

Strangers? You mean boys and men pretending to be women?



Your friends, family or associates? No one in any of my circles identify as trans so they are strangers to me.

quote:

The government has been poisoning you for years if you are dumb enough to follow the Food Pyramid and buy overly processed foods allowed by the FDA.



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