Elaine Glusac, New York Times:

If it’s been a year or more since you traveled, particularly internationally, you may notice something different at airports in the United States: More steps — from checking a bag to clearing customs — are being automated using biometrics.

And:

Many of the latest biometric developments use facial recognition, which the National Institute of Standards and Technology recently found is at least 99.5 percent accurate, rather than iris-scanning or fingerprints.

99.5% accurate means that 1 out of 200 is inaccurate. Just saying.

“Iris-scanning has been touted as the most foolproof,” said Sherry Stein, the head of technology in the Americas for SITA, a Switzerland-based biometrics tech company. “For biometrics to work, you have to be able to match to a known trusted source of data because you’re trying to compare it to a record on file. The face is the easiest because all the documents we use that prove your identity — driver’s licenses, passports etc. — rely on face.”

Delta has implemented a passport based program at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport:

In November, Delta Air Lines launched a new digital identity program for T.S.A. PreCheck members at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport who can opt in to using facial recognition to do everything from checking a bag to clearing security and boarding their domestic flight.

Opting in requires the passenger to enter their U.S. passport number, which provides the back-end check on your identity using your passport photo, even though the new program is domestic only.

Another program, for international flyers, in Chicago:

Returning from Iceland to Chicago O’Hare International Airport in October, I approached the airport kiosk that normally scans your passport and fingerprints and gets Global Entry members like me past Customs and Border Protection agents in the span of a few minutes. This time, the kiosk took my picture only, spat out a copy, which included my name and passport details, and sped me past agents in under a minute.

This future is coming, fast and furious. How well protected will this treasure trove of biometric data be? Seems clear it’ll be a relentless target for state actors. How long will it be until we start reading headlines about biometric data hacks?