One idea is the Mobile Passport Control system, a joint effort of the Airports Council International and the U.S. Customs and Border Protection. This mobile app is free and will allow U.S. citizens and Canadian visitors to transmit their passport information and answers to inspection-related questions to customs via their smartphones.
The test group consists of 21 airports and one cruise port. Phoenix Sky Harbor recently announced the launch of the initiative at their airport. In keeping with their goal of providing world-class service to customers, this program will help travelers arrive into the country more quickly and provide them with a more efficient traveling experience.
Upon landing, the traveler will submit their information to the Customs and Border Protection computer system via the app. Once submitted, the traveler will receive a receipt with an encrypted QR code which the CBP officer uses to finalize their entry into the United States. Those responsible for the new app say travelers who successfully use the app will no longer have to complete a paper form or use an Automated Passport Control kiosk.
Another program getting some attention is the Biometric Scanning program. In essence, this uses the concept of facial recognition software that has been around in law enforcement for years and will facilitate identifying of foreign travelers entering and leaving the United States.
President Trump in his original executive order, 13769, and in revised executive orders on travel, has called for a quicker process to verify travelers by collecting data like fingerprints, face scans, and eye scans primarily as they leave the country. The reason being, we may know when travelers have entered the country but we may not know of their departure.
This is being proposed as a passive program that simply gathers people’s identity as they walk by. Even old facial recognition software could scan and match existing databases at thousands of faces per second. The software ranks the probability of it being a person in its data base.
The software is being tested in several airports for its potential use, but TSA doesn't say much about it since it still has a high rate of failure. For example, if you approached the system, an image of you would be pulled up. The software would say that there is a 98% chance it is you. But, if you disguise yourself with small items, such as glasses, clothing around the face, etc. the probability goes down. So, when individuals whose religious culture requires clothing around the face, the system cannot identify individuals with surety.
Change is constant in every industry. It will be interesting to see where this new technology takes us.
