China-Style Facial Scanning Coming to an Airport Near You: 'Scans Have Led to False Arrests and Even Jail Time'
China has been ground-zero for the development and testing of high-tech surveillance with the intention of population control.
The CCP has famously utilized dystopian-style “facial recognition” software in their major cities to monitor and control its population, especially those they consider to be “radicalized”, i.e. the Muslim Uighurs.
China even named their mass video surveillance system “Skynet”, in a macabre reference to the artificial superintelligence system that attempts to wipe out humanity in the science-fiction “Terminator” movie series.
Freedom-loving Americans, then, should be alarmed at the reported intention of the TSA — Transportation Security Administration — to expand this same facial recognition tech to all U.S. airports.
While the TSA has utilized this kind of tech in select American airports, many fear that this kind of nationwide expansion signifies a concerning step in the direction of a Chinese-style “social credit system.”
According to FOX Business, the facial scanners, “…dubbed ‘Credit Authentication Technology with Camera,’ now known as CAT-2, were rolled out by the Department of Homeland Security in 2017 as part of a pilot program, and involve scanning fliers’ faces at the TSA checkpoint and comparing the images to the travelers’ documents such as their driver’s licenses or passports.”
“Since then, the biometric system has expanded to 16 U.S. airports, and travelers are starting to notice,” FOX Business continued.
Fox Business highlights part of an interview that The Washington Post conducted with the head of the TSA’s facial recognition program, Jason Lim.
Lim is quoted as having said that the TSA “hopes to expand it across the United States as soon as next year.”
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Despite this concerted effort to expand this facial recognition program, the TSA has reportedly not provided any reliable data on how accurate the scans themselves are.
Business Insider reported that facial recognition used “by law enforcement is even illegal in some cities, including San Francisco as, in some cases, racially-biased facial recognition scans have led to false arrests and even jail time for a black man who was misidentified.”
Lim attempted to ease the concerns of privacy advocates with his pledge that the scans would be optional, and that the data would not be stored “…save for some kept on hand for two years to test the system’s effectiveness or for law enforcement purposes,” according to Fox Business.
Lim failed, however, to state what consequences the decline of a scan would bring to American travelers.
There are questions and concerns that privacy advocates should be asking as technology like this continues to be pushed by statists who don’t believe in the right to privacy.
The YouTube channel Tech Vision released a brief but comprehensive analysis of how China uses its ever-expanding surveillance state to enforce its “social credit system.”
The narrator highlights the intended consequences that invasive facial recognition and social credit systems have on the populations they’re meant to rule, including severely restricting travel and controlling independent thought.
The narrator stated, “The complete eradication of privacy helps the authorities to quash movements and protests against the government before they even start.”
Fox Business cited New York Post columnist, James Bovard, who stated, “The TSA scanning system could be a big step toward a Chinese-style ‘social credit’ system that could restrict travel by people the government doesn’t like.”
Be wary of those who promise security in exchange for liberty, for those who espouse this uneven trade rarely have your well-being in mind.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
