We know that facial recognition systems have made it to our smartphones, laptops and many more devices. However, it would be quite useful when these systems get implemented on a wider basis. Now, it has been reported that the Sydney Airport in Australia is performing trials of its facial recognition systems. This means that passengers on this airport are being scanned on a facial recognition basis.
The airport authority has also clarified that they are not storing images of their passengers in the system. The facial recognition systems used on the Sydney Airport are from Vision-Box. This comes after privacy concerns were raised in Australia by Electronic Frontiers Australia board member Justin Warren. He said that Vision-Box’s facial recognition systems outside the Qantas international business lounge violate privacy.
However, it has been found out that some Qantas passengers had signed up to be part of a three-month trial for these facial recognition machines in 2018. Now that the trials have been completed, there are no ongoing trials for Qantas or its passengers related to this system. Sydney Airport is also testing a ‘fast passenger processing project’ which aims to let passengers complete the pre-boarding process with just their face.
Having said that the trials are now complete, Sydney Airport is still using the Vision-Box machines for trials. This has caused many to question the airport authority about conducting trials without permission. On this, Sydney Airport spokesperson says that “Faces are detected when these units are turned on – however, the system does not record or store the data of passengers who have not opted-in,”
This clearly means that the system does record the data of passengers who have opted-in. However, Warren says that he cannot opt-out of these trials even if he wants to. Because the customer service at Qantas doesn’t even know that the faces are still being scanned.