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Who Needs Passports?! Airport Security Now Fully Based on Facial Recognition | Rob Braxman Tech | YouTubeToText
YouTube Transcript: Who Needs Passports?! Airport Security Now Fully Based on Facial Recognition
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The author expresses concern over the increasing and seemingly unannounced use of facial recognition technology for airport security in both the US and France, highlighting potential privacy violations and the normalization of surveillance.
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Have you traveled by plane recently,
particularly internationally? I recently
traveled to France and I was quite
surprised at the changes I found both in
the US and in France. What's new is the
introduction of facial recognition as
the primary way security is handled now
at both these countries which I
experienced at Los Angeles International
Airport and Charl de airport in Paris.
Remember these are two different
countries and yet the standard way of
handling airport traffic was
disconcerting. It was almost as if the
countries coordinated. The glaring
observation I made was that when
entering France and when returning to
the United States, I spoke to no human
being other than following walking
directions and being directed to a
camera machine. No one interviewed me at
either entry port, though there was a
person mechanically stamping the
passport in France, but not saying a
word. What does this all mean? What are
these machines? What do they do? How is
it that these governments are so
confident of their use of facial
recognition technology that in the case
of the United States, I didn't even have
to show my passport to anyone. All I had
to do was have them take a picture of my
face. Anyone interested in privacy ought
to be concerned and wonder if you can
opt out of having facial recognition
used on you or if there are consequences
to requesting that no facial recognition
be done. I did not see any signs
anywhere that offered any opt- out
alternatives. Given the political
climate in recent years in America where
freedom of speech can no longer be
assumed, one wonders if you will be
stopped at some border and harassed and
your phone and devices examined for
content against the current regime. Now
that I'm back in the US, I began
researching all this so that next time I
travel, I'm more aware of my options.
Fortunately, I did not have any issues
at all. It was smooth sailing. Even
though being who I was, it was a concern
to me if some three-letter agency
somewhere was rattled by what I say. And
by the way, the shocking thing was that
I was recognized in Paris. So, it
wouldn't have surprised me if some AI
could do it as well. Let me share with
you my experience and what I learned
about the use of this new technology.
And also I will share some of my fears
as this changes how we interact at
I'm grateful to be an American.
First of all, what I will talk about is
my experience as an American citizen
traveling with a United States passport.
This is something underappreciated by
many young people who protest the
American flag and so on. I have to say
that I appreciate completely the
benefits of being an American. When
arriving at the customs and immigration
area in France, for example, it was
notable to see a very long line of
people waiting to be processed for
entry. And I'm guessing that most of
those people were coming from African
countries based on the makeup of the
population in line. and I went through
what I expected to be a long line, but
it turned out to be practically no line.
There was no wait at all to enter
France. And as I said, no French
official said a word to me other than to
point me to a camera machine. I felt the
unfairness of it all and how the world
worked. But I was thankful personally,
of course, that it was easy, though my
concern was more because of the nature
of my YouTube channel. In the US, the
citizen area was completely segregated
from the non-citizen area. So, I
couldn't tell you what the experience is
like for non-citizens. I imagine with
current immigration strictness in
America, that would make any visitor
tense. Unfortunately, the US is the most
difficult country to travel into, and it
is easy to forget this when you're a citizen.
citizen.
Our rights as citizens and the potential
of abuse. I personally am very thankful
to be a US citizen, but as a citizen,
I'm also concerned about the rights and
freedoms I'm entitled to under our
constitution. I'm concerned about issues
like the first amendment, which
guarantees me freedom of speech, and the
fourth amendment, which serves to
prevent abusive search and seizures.
Both these amendments feature big and
privacy. With privacy, we enable
ourselves to exercise free speech
without someone watching over our
shoulder. This is no longer a given when
various technologies ensure that someone
is always watching over your shoulder. I
talked specifically about the new intent
to do client side scanning on our
devices and how this can be used to know
specifically what we're all thinking
based on what we do on our phones and
computers. Then there's the wide use of
geo fencing which now tests the limits
of the fourth amendment because now we
can be implicated in government drag
nets searching for potential crime when
there is no warrant or cause just
because we happen to be in some
particular area. View fencing is the
technology used to find people in a
specific area at a specific period of
time based on phone data. something
that's routinely done now because of
your phone data. Supplied to the problem
of facial recognition, one wonders then
what the intent is when cameras are
being used at airports to be the primary
way of screening people exiting and
entering a country. Is this another
abuse of our privacy in the making? Are
our photos being stored in some
database? are AI bots running in the
background scanning our information in
social media to red flag us in some way.
So, in this light, I'm going to see what
the TSA says about this technology,
match it to my experience and speculate
on various other technologies in the
works that they're not revealing to us.
USA Credential Authentication
Technology, CAT. According to the TSA
website, the equipment I encountered at
the airport is called credential
authentication technology or CAT. And
specifically, this version of the
technology currently in use is referred
to as CAT 2. The way I experienced it is
that I was told to scan my passport on
the device. Then I was to look straight
at the camera. I saw on the screen that
it marked my face with a border on
screen, which is obviously AI based. And
then there was a flash and there was a
pause as if it was processing something.
The first time I used it, the machine
seemed to have a longer delay than a
neighboring machine. So it got me
concerned that some additional scanning
was being performed, but eventually it
completed. I can't remember now, but
maybe it was a green arrow indicating it
was successful. Based on what I read on
the TSA website, what supposedly was
happening was that the machine simply
compares the photo that was digitally
stored based on the chip on the passport
and it compares that against the actual
photo taken to ensure there's a match.
So if I understand that right, the
passport photo on the passport is not
actually used but some digital
representation of it is downloaded from
somewhere either from a government
website or embedded directly in the
passport. Uh
I'm not sure and that is compared to the
photo just taken. Then the two are
matched. Again, according to the TSA,
this photo is only used to authenticate
the document and that the TSA itself
doesn't have access to external
databases which may show additional
information about the individual.
Supposedly, it is simply to make sure
that the document is authentic. From my
past understanding, both your USA
passport card and the passport itself
has an embedded RFID. So, I can imagine
that that would store the passport
number and that could enable it to
download the image that matches the
passport from elsewhere. I can't imagine
an RFID holding actual image data. Then
from here, once you're validated, you're
good to go. Your entry is authenticated.
One of the things stated on the TSA
website is that the image of you is not
stored permanently, but is deleted
shortly after.
But somehow I don't buy this. Let me
fast forward to the return trip. On my
re-entry into the US through
immigration, I was holding the passport
in my hand, but at no time did I have to
show it to anyone or to scan it. Yet,
when I got to the final point, I had a
facial recognition photo taken again and
the confirmation was practically
immediate, not like the delay on the
first time doing this when I departed.
Didn't they say they delete the photo? I
think it was within 24 hours. I came
back a week later and no passport was
required. common sense. My photo or
facial recognition data was stored or
they'd have to repeat the process of cat
authenticate that document against my
face. That didn't happen on the way
back. It was purely facial recognition
used for IDing me and the officer nearby
said aloud that the passport was not
necessary. Now admittedly the passport
has an RFID so it could have scanned the
RFID on the way in so that the machine
was prepped for it but it does raise the
question. Folks, if you traveled
internationally recently, please compare
my experience with yours and let's see
if there's any pattern here. I'm
suspicious here that they are not
telling us the whole story. Again, to
repeat, they claim that Cat 2 is a
document authentication machine, not a
facial recognition device matched to a
database. That is clearly either not the
case here or they store the image at
least long enough to catch you on the
return flight. So, this sounds fishy to
me. We're being led like a flock of
USA, is there an opt out?
Let me tell you something else that was
very strange. In all the documents from
the TSA, they state that facial
recognition is not mandatory. You can
choose to opt out. I will emphatically
state this to you. I was not aware of
any sign anywhere that stated that I had
an option to opt out of facial
recognition. And since this was my first
encounter of this, I didn't want to
stand out and cause a fuss. But clearly
they didn't want to even suggest that
there was an opt out. On the website
they state that when you choose to opt
out there's no penalty of any sort and
you do not lose your place in line.
Supposedly the only difference is that a
human will review your document and then
you proceed in as normal. I didn't get a
chance to opt out. I didn't get to read
of this in advance. And this is
obviously a newly implemented
technology. From reading articles on the
internet, I see the earliest signs of
this being used was in May 2025. So
within the last 4 months or so. So I
didn't know the consequences of opting
out. Now, I'm able to inform you that
you can opt out and you can read their
rules and they clearly state that they
will not penalize you for opting out or
subject you to any extra delay and not
even losing your place in line. So,
don't be afraid, folks. If your
experience is different than mine or if
my memory is faulty, I would like other
people to verify the experience. This
again is at LAX at the Tom Bradley
International Terminal. Let me know if
your experience is similar, same, or
different in the comments. If you opted
out, please also tell us in the comments
to see if you feel like you encountered
extra trouble either in departing or
watch lists.
It is also stated in the TSA website
that once you insert your passport into
the machine that other things happen
that you are verified to actually have a
flight and that they check some flight
databases and they do admit too that the
passport is passed through some federal
watch list database. The implication is
that the other controls to identify or
classify the passenger is happening in
the background and not under the control
of the TSA person running the CAT
machines. So, if I'm to guess, if
there's some issue, the machine will
give an alarm and then I presume you're
escorted elsewhere to deal with law
enforcement. Again, as a tech guy,
that's my guess, but the TSA makes it
sound like they're just doing a document
check. This of course is more
sophisticated at many levels. As an
expert on surveillance, I would imagine
that the machines would be under the
control of some AI that is providing
other intelligence data to classify the
traveler. And despite the TSA assurance,
it sounds to me like it is capable of
doing a full evaluation of every person
going through that machine. So this is
no simple document check. While this may
be obvious to all of us, a population
used to surveillance, I'm suspicious of
the word play. Like, hey, we're not
invading your privacy. Don't worry about
I already told you this and this is
based on prior knowledge, but the
passport and passport card have an
embedded RFID. So your identity can be
known without displaying your passport.
So in addition to this, my eyes are
aware of cameras at all times. Aside
from the usual overhead surveillance
cameras found in most airports at the
Tom Bradley International terminal, the
exit escalator was chock full of
cameras. On a single escalator, there
were three cameras and these were at eye
level, not up in the ceiling. And they
were equally divided over the length of
the escalator. And this was the single
way down at least for ambulatory people.
So in theory there would be no escape.
You would be facially recognized even
before you enter the customs immigration
area. What I'm saying is that in
addition to the final exit cat 2 camera,
there were multiple cameras along the
way. And I'm sure the purpose of that
would not be stated. These cameras were
not hidden, by the way. They were at
face level on the left side of the
escalator. So, it would be obvious if
you faced away from them since the wall
to the right was empty. I'm expecting
surveillance, so this doesn't surprise
me, of course. But, uh, nice talk on the
TSA website is inconsistent with the
reality. Of course, as an American
citizen, I didn't get stopped or get
delayed in any ways. So, I appreciate
that, but I also recognize that this
equipment could escalate the way we're
treated with little forewarning.
I have to add too that the boarding pass
is also now your face. So no need to
show a boarding pass. The AI's got you.
And yet you're told that they're not
storing your photo. Come on. Something
is not adding up.
Phone device screening.
The most worrisome aspects of this
technology and other things related to
this is an increased level of
surveillance that have been experienced
by others who have been denied access to
the USA even after being granted a visa.
There's that story of a German scientist
coming in for a science conference and
was apparently denied entry in the US
after supposedly having his phone
examined and anti-Trump comments were
found on his text messages. Later the US
immigration claimed that the reason for
denial was based on social media posts
which again is a concern. Good thing
they don't apply this rule to citizens
or at least not that I'm aware of. Being
aware of such events and also phones and
computers being examined at different
countries. I did not bring a regular
computer. Instead, I had a basic factory
reset computer with just basic
functionality and no real content on it.
My phone was my Bra 3 phone, which
normally doesn't have much content on it
either. It's troublesome that I would
even have that fear that someone would
be looking at my possessions or digital
data in light of the protections of the
Fourth Amendment. But in this current
world, I'm always prepared because I
frankly have a lot of distrust. It
doesn't seem to matter who is in power
as government officials know to use the
capability that's made available to
them. As I always say, when the
technology allows any kind of evil to be
done, evil will be done.
EU facial recognition.
Now, going through the EU side via
France, the experience was almost
identical to the US version. I had to
feed my passport through some reader and
then a camera above it took my photo and
then when it was okay, a mechanical gate
opened, the same kind they use in the
Paris Metro to accept your metro ticket
like cattle. I had to admit it was
efficient and stressless because there
was no human interjecting other than to
point you to the empty camera machine.
Now here looked like the normal document
verification done by facial recognition.
I presume though that the French
government does not have direct access
to the photo database of the USA. So I
imagine they just compared the physical
passport photo to your facial
recognition photo. I heard from some EU
folks who stated that in the EU facial
recognition is also optional. Once
again, I don't know what the game is
being played because there was
definitely no sign that indicated there
was an option from the nylon lines that
led you to the camera machines. All I
saw was pictures of the flags that
applied to the countries allowed in each
line. Then at the end of the line, it
opened directly to the five or six
camera machines. So, EU people, check
your laws. If you opt out, what happens?
Have you tried opting out?
Normalizing facial recognition.
One of the things that happen here when
they implement facial recognition in
this overt manner is that it
desensitizes the population. It gets us
used to providing biometrics. Just like
our phones spy on us and we have
accepted it as normal. Then facial
recognition is all of a sudden the new
thing that we must accept as normal. And
just to make sure we accept it, they
make sure to not indicate that you have
a choice. Put a little bit of fear in
you to ensure compliance. So now expect
this to expand. Facial recognition to
enter a building. Facial recognition to
log into social media. It is already
such a concern to me that some parts of
Los Angeles already has heavy facial
recognition of drivers in cars. Remember
this city, folks. Culver City,
California, the surveillance capital in
Los Angeles County. You'll get tickets
with facial recognition. As we have
found in this use at the airport,
there's always mission creep. Sure,
we'll just use this for credential
authentication. It would not be used for
police surveillance.
Yeah, right. By the way, in 2023,
Senators John Kennedy, Republican from
Louisiana, and Jeff Mkeley, Democrat
from Oregon, introduced a bill, which
apparently went nowhere to ban facial
recognition at airports. Senator Mkeley
said this about the bill. The TSA
program is a precursor to a full-blown
national surveillance state. Nothing can
be more damaging to our national values
of privacy and freedom. No government
should be trusted with this power. TSA
responds that it doesn't save or store
travelers photos after a positive ID is
made. TSA policy requires that security
officers show each traveler respect and
ensure their privacy is protected.
That's what the agency says on websites.
Travelers who do not wish to participate
in the facial comparison technology
process may decline the optional photo
without records in favor of an
alternative identity verification
process which does not use facial
comparison technology to verify their
identity. This action will not take
longer and travelers will not lose their
place in line for security screening.
GSA is committed to protecting traveler
privacy, civil rights, civil liberties,
and ensuring the public's trust as it
seeks to improve the traveler experience
through the exploration of identity
verification technologies.
And note what I said about my suspicions
that in spite of what the TSA claims on
their website that your photos are in
fact being stored.
As a closing note, the electronic
privacy information center wrote that
facial recognition is an invasive and
dangerous surveillance technology. There
is a reason facial recognition has
become ubiquitous in less democratic
countries. Facial recognition is an
ideal tool for oppression by an
authoritarian or would be authoritarian
government. TSA's use of facial
recognition normalizes the use of our
face as our ID and the dangerous
implications are far too great to
ignore. The TSA should immediately halt
its implementation of facial recognition.
recognition.
I'm sure someday they will up the ante
with the Dubai method. Apparently there
they do a retinal scan or the China
method with fingerprints combined with a
WeChat app. Sometimes I cannot
personally do anything about these
invasions to privacy. The only thing
possible for me is to speak out and
enough of you have to care for things to change.
Folks, thank you for watching my videos.
As many of you know, this channel does
not have sponsors, and we primarily
sustain ourselves by just creating
products and services that we use to
defend our privacy posture. I'd like to
invite you to visit our community site,
BRAXME, which has a growing community of
privacy enthusiasts. There are people
from various walks of life and beliefs,
and they converge together in the mutual
support of privacy issues. We have a
store there with products ranging from
the Bra virtual phone service, Braxmail,
BitesVPN, and other services. All these
are tools used by the privacy aware, and
you can even talk to the actual users of
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love to have you there, and you don't
even have to identify yourself to be
part of the community. The very
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Information about that is on bratech.net.
bratech.net.
Thanks also to those who donate to us on
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You are all appreciated.
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