This TikTok creator shows that getting out of TSA scans isn’t always easy
When you show your ID to a Transportation Security Administration (TSA) employee at airport security, there’s a good chance the camera will automatically capture your face to match the photo on your ID. But travelers are trading their privacy for a little bit of security, tech privacy activists say. The TSA says opting out of face checks is easy, but one TikTok creator has shown that’s not always the case.
YK Hong posted a series of TikTok videos showing that, after exiting, he was forced to confront confrontational TSA agents who said he couldn’t actually pass a face scan. The TSA agents grew defensive when he backed off, then demanded to know why he didn’t want to submit to the mask. “Dear Jesus!” said one New York TSA agent in frustration.
Hong, a self-described tech justice activist, says he’s been getting out of screening for “six or seven years,” as long as the TSA has been trying to get facial recognition.
Some travelers noticed that the TSA camera was on the line and could not avoid having their faces scanned. One told the agent they were leaving, but was told their picture had already been taken.
The TSA seems to be suggesting that passengers check in. “A traveler may voluntarily agree to use their face to verify their identity during the screening process by presenting their physical ID or passport,” reads the facial recognition agency’s page.
Facial recognition cameras typically capture hundreds of points on your face, then turn the points into numbers, creating a unique digital representation. Critics like Hong say that if someone captures that representation without permission, they’re taking something that’s yours. You also give up control over how your face image can be used in the future.
“Discriminatory face recognition technology [are] only one line of code away from mass surveillance,” said Joy Buolamwini of the Algorithmic Justice League (AJL) in a recent panel discussion. He says the TSA program “normalizes the culture of surveillance.” AJL launched its #InPlaneSight campaign in the summer of 2023 to raise awareness about the right of US citizens to opt out of facial recognition masks at US airports. In March, Buolamwini testified before Congress on the matter.
The TSA says it uses facial scan data only for airport security, and that other government agencies or law enforcement agencies have access to it. It says the biometric technology it uses “converts passenger photos into templates that can be reversed to recreate the original image.” The agency doesn’t say exactly how long it will keep facial data, only that it keeps the data “for as long as is necessary to accomplish the stated purposes of the pilots’ biometric technology.”
In May, a bipartisan group of senators sent a letter calling for a temporary freeze on the TSA program. “This technology poses a serious threat to our privacy and civil liberties,” the senators wrote, “and Congress should block TSA’s development and deployment of facial recognition devices until stronger congressional oversight is implemented.” But their concerns were brushed aside and the TSA driver continued.
