Warren Shepell had a disturbing experience this month while boarding his flight from Cleveland to his home in Toronto.
Shortly before boarding the plane, he says, two uniformed officers approached him on the boarding ramp (Jetway), and one took a photo of him.
“I was horrified. I felt ambushed,” said Shepell, a prominent Canadian psychologist.
He says the men never explained who they were or why they photographed him.
“They didn’t tell me anything and I just feel violated.”
Being photographed in transit is something Canadians visiting the United States will have to get used to: The country is moving forward with a plan to photograph Canadian travelers as they enter and leave the country by all modes of transportation.
For nearly a decade, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has been using facial biometrics to confirm the identities of international passengers arriving at U.S. airports. The process involves photographing travelers and using biometric facial comparison technology to ensure your face matches the photograph on your travel documents.
Now, CBP is expanding the program with the goal of collecting images of passengers departing from all U.S. international airports. The agency also plans to take photographs of travelers as they enter and exit the country at all seaports, and in vehicle lanes in land borders.
CBP told CBC News it hopes to have facial biometric technology fully deployed at land borders sometime next year. Full implementation in seaports and airports is expected within the next three to five years.
Meanwhile, CBP is already laying the groundwork for its plan. The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced a new rule on Friday That makes it mandatory for non-US citizens, including Canadians, to participate in its facial biometrics program. The regulation will go into effect on December 26, although full implementation of the program could take years.
Under the rule, photographs taken of foreign travelers will remain in the DHS database for up to 75 years.
Numerous Canadian snowbirds crossing a land border into the U.S. were told they must be photographed and fingerprinted as part of a new registration process.
CBP spokeswoman Jessica Turner said in an email that the expansion plan fulfills “a congressional mandate to biometrically register most foreign nationals entering and leaving the United States.”
Facial biometrics “is about ensuring accurate records, improving security and enforcing immigration laws,” he said.
Tracking travelers’ departures also helps CBP identify those who stayed in the country longer than allowed.according to the new DHS rule.
Privacy concerns
facial biometrics is already in place at dozens of US airports on international departures. Turner confirmed that passenger Shepell was photographed by a CBP officer as part of that program.
At airport arrivals, CBP uses fixed, self-capture cameras to photograph passengers. But the agency does not have fixed cameras in departure areas, so CBP officers are tasked with photographing travelers, Turner said.
The process at land borders will be less obvious. CPB is currently testing technology designed to “capture images of passengers in vehicles,” Turner said.
She says expanding the program will benefit travelers because it provides “a fast, accurate, contactless method” to verify their identities.
It is also the wave of the future: many countries have incorporated facial biometric technology in airports. Canada uses it for international arrivals, but says passengers can choose not to request a manual inspection. The European Union is being implemented a program that requires non-EU citizens to be fingerprinted and photographed before entering the region.
Despite its widespread adoption, the technology is raising concerns among privacy experts who say it could be misused.
“Creating the infrastructure just creates the potential for mission drift,” said Jeramie Scott, senior counsel at the U.S. Electronic Privacy Clearinghouse.
He says the concern is amplified in the United States, which lacks federal laws regulating facial biometrics. That gap opens the door for travelers’ data to be used for other purposes, such as surveillance, Scott maintains.
He noted that the Trump administration has already demonstrated that it will use personal data beyond its intended purpose to help identify and deport unauthorized immigrants.
For example, the United States Department of the Treasury recently signed an agreement to share confidential taxpayer data with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
“We’ve already seen this administration take information that it has… and try to use it for reasons or uses that were outside of the actual original purpose of its collection,” Scott said. “It really has a chilling effect across the board.”
TO allay Americans’ concerns about privacyCBP assures you that it only keeps your photos for up to 12 hours and that you can opt out of facial biometrics by requesting a manual inspection.
For now, Canadians can also opt out, Turner said. But that will come to an end on December 26, when the new DHS rule goes into effect.
Passenger Shepell says no one informed him that he could opt out of being photographed. He says that if he had known, he would have refused.
“I just don’t trust the system,” Shepell said. “I am a strong advocate of privacy.”
But CBP’s Turner said there’s no need to worry about its facial biometrics program.
“CBP is committed to its privacy obligations and has taken steps to safeguard the privacy of all travelers,” it said.
Turner added that the agency uses facial matching technology “only at specific times and locations where travelers are already required to provide proof of identity,” and that the program’s sole purpose is to automate document verification.
A travel deterrent?
Now that Shepell is aware of CBP’s facial biometrics expansion plans, he is reconsidering new travel to the U.S. He also believes CBP should warn air travelers when border agents are waiting at the Jetway to take their photo.
“I was also concerned about the fact that I had not been warned beforehand that this would happen,” he said.
American immigration lawyer Len Saunders says CBP’s plan to photograph Canadians en masse may further damage the Canadian tourism industry in the country.
“It definitely doesn’t help encourage foreigners to come to the United States,” Saunders said. “It’s another deterrent.”
Since U.S. President Donald Trump took office, Canadian travel to the country has plummeted, in part due to anger over Trump’s trade war and talk about Canada becoming the 51st state.
in septemberYear-over-year return trips for Canadians who traveled to the U.S. decreased by 27 percent for air travel and nearly 35 percent for land travel.
However, Saunders says that even if the numbers decline further due to concerns about facial biometrics, the Trump administration is unlikely to take action.
“They don’t seem interested in promoting tourism,” he said. “It’s something I don’t think the American government really cares about.”
