TSA tries again to impose an ID requirement to fly

guest · May 21, 2020

TSA tries again to impose an ID requirement to fly
May 19, 2020
https://papersplease.org/wp/2020/05/19/tsa-tries-again-to-impose-an-id-requirement-to-fly/

Air travel in the US has been reduced by more than 90%, measured by the numbers of people passing through checkpoints at airports operated by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and its contractors.
And the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has postponed its threat to start unlawfully refusing passage to travelers without ID credentials compliant with the REAL-ID Act of 2005 for another year, from October 1, 2020, to October 1, 2021.
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So relatively little attention is being paidright now to air travel or TSA requirements — making it the ideal time for the TSA to try to sneak a new ID requirement for air travel (to take effect in 2021) into place without arousing public protest.

Today, in collaboration with nine other organizations concerned with freedom of travel, identification, privacy, human rights, and civil liberties, we filed comments with the TSA in opposition to what is ostensibly a “Notice of intent to request approval from the Office of Mangement and Budget” for a new form, TSA Form 415.
According to our comments, the TSA is attempting to “use the innocuous-seeming device of a request for approval of an information collection to introduce a fundamental and profoundly controversial change in substantive TSA requirements and the rights of travelers”:
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In fact, the TSA does not require, and the law does not authorize the TSA to require, that would-be travelers show any identity documents. According to longstanding practice, people who do not show any identity documents travel by air every day – typically after being required to complete and sign the current version of TSA Form 415 and answer questions about what information is contained in the file about them obtained by the TSA from data broker Accurint….

The notice attempts to use the PRA procedures for approval of a form to introduce a sweeping, highly controversial, substantive change in the scope of authority over air travelers claimed and exercised by the TSA….

The proposed revised form is represented as somehow related to implementation of the REAL-ID Act of 2005. But travelers have not been, and are not now, required to show any ID to fly, and nothing in the REAL-ID Act has changed or would change that…. [...]
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We’ve seen this before.
In 2016, the TSA published a similar notice of intent to submit Form 415 (and a new ID requirement to fly) for OMB for approval. We objected, as did many others.

We’ll be watching closely to see if the TSA moves forward with this proposal, or tries to put a de facto ID requirement for air travel into effect through some other back-door means.
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guest · Jun 25, 2020

TSA wants more authority for ID demands, “vetting”, and data use
June 23, 2020
https://papersplease.org/wp/2020/06/23/tsa-wants-more-authority-for-id-demands-vetting-and-data-use/

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) wants more power to require ID from travelers (“credentialing”), control who is and who is not allowed to exercise their right to travel (“vetting”), and use and share information about travelers with more third parties and for more purposes (“expanded data use”).

These TSA priorities for the next two years are included in a 2020 update released today to the 2018 implementation road map for the TSA and White House long-term strategic plans for travel surveillance and control.
TSA Administrator David Pekoske’s oddly-named “Intent 2.0” strategy update also prioritizes “biometric vetting and [identity] verification”, a “near-contactless experience” at TSA checkpoints, and “vetting as a service”.
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None of the TSA’s strategy documents say how the TSA hopes to acquire “expanded vetting and credentialing authorities” or “expanded approvals for data use”. Will the TSA seek to have these included in new laws? Or will to try to grant itself wider authority through rulemaking or press releases, as it has often done in the past?
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guest · Sep 9, 2020

TSA tries out another (illegal) biometric “ID verification” system
September 1, 2020
https://papersplease.org/wp/2020/09...her-illegal-biometric-id-verification-system/

The new “touchless ID verification” stations at DCA include a webcam (at top center of photo above) a magnetic-stripe reader (lower left) for drivers licenses and other ID cards, and a photographic scanner for passports (lower right).

Travelers who volunteer to use the new system are directed to insert their drivers license, ID card, or passport into the appropriate reader, stand on a marked spot in front of the webcam, and remove their face mask, so that the image from the ID (or, more likely, from some back-end image database linked to the ID, although that hasn’t been disclosed) and the image from the webcam can be compared by some undisclosed algorithm.
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The TSA signs at the new ID verification stations says that mug shots are voluntary, but that “You must still insert or scan your identity document in the device, even if you do not have your photo taken.” No legal basis for this purported requirement is specified:

As with the TSA’s illegal “ID verification form” (Form 415), we believe that in the absence of OMB arpproval, assignment of an OMB Control Number, and a valid PRA notice including that OMB Control Number, the PRA provides an absolute defense against any sanctions for declining to have data from an ID card or passport collected by the TSA.
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Security Magazine: TSA continues piloting “self-service” checkpoint technology

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is piloting a new touchless “self-service” technology that matches a traveler’s live photo with the photo on their ID. The initiative automatically authenticates a traveler’s ID, matches the live photo with the image on their ID, and confirms their flight information in near real time.

Travelers at DCA are now able to voluntarily participate in the pilot. Passengers will be able to approach the device and insert their own ID into the scanner for authentication, rather than physically handing it to a TSA officer, thus promoting social distancing and reducing physical contact.
Signs near the checkpoint will provide notice to passengers on how to participate in the pilot, in addition to providing instructions on how to decline having their photo taken, although passenger IDs will still have to be scanned through the device for identity verification.
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