page_title: Airport privacy
section_title: Facial profiling
hierarchical_section_title: Airport privacy / Technology and privacy / Facial profiling
caption_attribution_description: English: Vision-Box eGates (Automated Border Control) in Gatwick South terminal, used by UKBA.
context_page_description: Airport privacy involves the right of personal privacy for passengers when it comes to screening procedures, surveillance, and personal data being stored at airports. This practice intertwines airport security measures and privacy specifically the advancement of security measures following the 9/11 attacks in the United States and other global terrorist attacks. Several terrorist attacks, such as 9/11, have led airports all over the world to look to the advancement of new technology such as body and baggage screening, detection dogs, facial recognition, and the use of biometrics in electronic passports. Amidst the introduction of new technology and security measures in airports and the growing rates of travelers there has been a rise of risk and concern in privacy.
context_section_description: In 2003, in an effort to improve the detection of terrorist threat, the TSA introduced the Screening Passengers by Observation Technique (SPOT). SPOT is a behavioral recognition system that looks at the way people conduct themselves through facial expressions and body movement. TSA Behavior Detection Officers (TBO) are stationed at airport security checkpoints and keep an eye out for behavior from travelers that may give off any suspicion of malice. SPOT has been highly critiqued for the times it has been used to misidentify a threat causing intrusive searches on travelers based on a hunch that a TSA official has.
caption: eGates (Automated Border Control) in Gatwick South terminal
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