When you flew recently, did the airports you went through have facial recognition technology?

I flew through DCA, the Reagan International Airport in Washington, and it was one of the

first airports to get facial recognition with TSA.

That's Jeffrey Fowler, a technology columnist for the Washington Post.

I personally did not get my face scanned because I have TSA pre and they have not put that

technology into TSA pre yet.

Would you have done it?

No. Tell me why.

I'm also a journalist, so I would have wanted to test to see what they would have said.

But you know, I would tell listeners as well say no if only because it might slay it down by

a little bit today, but it also sends a message that the TSA should be noticing that people

are not comfortable with this.

If you're traveling this holiday or this summer, you might notice facial recognition at TSA checkpoints

too. At 25 airports in the US and Puerto Rico, the TSA is expanding a controversial digital

identification program that uses facial recognition.

Travelers may notice kiosks with small cameras checking photos on their IDs to verify their

identities. Often, as Jeffrey said, travelers are confused or uncomfortable when they first encounter

this tech. And an airport is not exactly the most relaxed environment to try to figure out on the

fly whether you want to opt in to facial recognition. So today on the show, we're going to break down

how this tech ended up in US airports, whether it works, and why Jeffrey is so skeptical.

I'm Lizzie O'Leary and you're listening to What Next TBD, a show about technology,

power, and how the future will be determined. Stick around.

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