Prepare to have your face scanned at airports across America

When President Donald Trump issued his infamous travel ban in January, it consumed headlines for days.

But little attention was paid to other provisions in the executive order-including one that sped up the implementation of a programme that could soon result in the facial scanning of every person taking a flight from anywhere in the United States.

The programme is a part of a larger plan called Biometric Exit, which is operated by the folks at Customs and Border Protection, a division of the Department of Homeland Security.

Biometric Exit had been in the works for well over a decade.

The programme's intent is to make sure US visa holders leaving the country aren't lying about their identity.

CBP has decided to do this through photo-matching.

The process works by matching passport and visa photos of US visa holders to photos taken at the airport from which they're departing the country.

This helps the US make sure the people getting on the plane are the same people who hold those visas.

The agency plans to expand the programme to seven different airports over the summer, and they already started a beta programme in 2016 at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta.

CBP tested facial recognition on passengers taking select flights to Tokyo, Japan and Mexico City.

In an emailed statement, CBP insisted they're focused on integrating facial recognition into the travelling process such that passengers barely notice the added security measure.

Facial recognition will have to be "simple for travellers to comply with" and "travellers shouldn't have to learn something new."

The statement also mentioned a focus on privacy several times.

But there are reasons to be sceptical of the agency's supposed focus on privacy.

Read the full article here.