Face Scans: Security Program Being Tested At O'Hare Airport

CHICAGO, IL — Passengers at O'Hare now have to submit to face scans before boarding certain international flights as part of a Department of Homeland security program run by U.S. Customs and Border Protection. The Chicago airport joins locations including Washington Dulles International Airport and Houston's George Bush Intercontinental Airport as test sites for a program exploring the use of facial recognition technology. The program's goal is to make sure that people boarding international flights are who they say they are and to track the departures of non-immigrant foreigners as part of counter-terrorism measures.

A spokeswoman for Customs and Border Protection told the Chicago Tribune that the scans are an easy way to confirm that a foreign national is leaving the country and hasn't overstayed their visa. The agency says U.S. citizens are also scanned so airlines don't have to have separate boarding procedures for citizens and non-citizens. At O'Hare's Terminal 3, the face scans are done on passengers boarding an American Airlines flight to London. So far, many travelers don't seem to mind.

"I'd rather be inconvenienced than dead," an Indiana woman told the Tribune this week, while another passenger noted, "If it makes us safer, it's great." (Get Patch real-time email alerts for the latest news for Chicago — or other neighborhoods. And iPhone users: Check out Patch's new app.)

But some privacy advocates aren't on board with the program. Although DHS says it will not keep facial scans of U.S. citizens, some believe the agency is overstepping its authority by scanning Americans. "That's not how a democracy is supposed to work," Alvaro Bedoya, executive director of the Center on Privacy and Technology at Georgetown University, told ABC News.

During tests of the program, passengers are able to opt out of the scans, but eventually, that won't be the case, according to a DHS report on its impact on privacy. "The only way for an individual to ensure he or she is not subject to collection of biometric information when traveling internationally is to refrain from traveling," the June 12 assessment says.

Watch: Airport Face Scans Stir Privacy Issues

Photo: A U.S. Customs and Border Protection facial recognition device is ready to scan another passenger at a United Airlines gate, Wednesday, July 12, 2017, at George Bush Intercontinental Airport, in Houston. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)