Papers Please: “In an on-stage interview [March 14, 2023] at South By Southwest by a reporter for the Dallas Morning News, the head of the US Transportation Security Administration made explicit that the TSA plans to make collection of biometric data mandatory for airline travel: According to a report in [March 15, 2023] of the newspaper by Alexandra Skores on the statements by TSA Administrator David Pekoske:

Biometric technology, such as facial recognition, is increasingly being used in TSA’s identity verification process….He said passengers can also choose to opt out of certain screening processes if they are uncomfortable, for now. Eventually, biometrics won’t be optional, he said.”

Mandatory mugshots for all airline passengers have been part of the TSA’s road map since at least 2018, despite objections such as those raised by the ACLU and the Identity Project. TSA Privacy Impact Assessments have claimed that air travelers could, for now, opt out, of mug shots, but the TSA has never complied with the notice requirements in the federal Privacy Act and Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA). So far as we can tell, there’s never been any PRA approval for collection of biometrics from domestic air travelers, or any PRA notice at a TSA checkpoint. Since the TSA has never applied to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for approval of this information collection, as required by the PRA, we don’t know what legal basis it would claim for this collection of biometric information…”