
DHS Goes Biometric, Says Travelers Can Opt Out of Face Scans by Not Traveling - clumsysmurf
https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20170713/07133237778/dhs-goes-biometric-says-travelers-can-opt-out-face-scans-not-traveling.shtml
======
edward
American bioethicist Jacob M. Appel has argued that "treating human beings
differently, simply because they were born on the opposite side of a national
boundary," is inherently unethical. According to Appel, such "birthrights" are
only defensible if they serve "useful and meaningful social purposes" (such as
inheritance rights, which encourage mothers and fathers to work and save for
their children), but the "birthright of nationality" does not do so. Economist
and writer Philippe Legrain argues that the countries of the world need
migration to help global trade and reduce the occurrence of regional wars.

Open borders cannot be dismissed as a utopian idea, argues Harald Bauder,
because they do not propose an alternative way to organize human society but
rather are a critique of closed or controlled borders.

Restrictions on mobility can only be justified if it can be shown that those
restrictions prevent significant harm. Since research indicates that open
borders will be better for both the natives and the migrants, and at the very
least have not been shown to cause major harm, those restrictions are
unjustified.

Free migration is the most effective way to reduce world poverty. Migrants
from developing countries can earn higher wages after moving to a more
developed country, usually lifting them from 'developing world poverty' to
'developed world poverty'. They also send remittances to relatives in their
home country, the flow of remittances being estimated to be around three times
the global foreign aid spending reported by the OECD.

A literature summary by economist Michael Clemens leads to an estimate that
open borders would result in an increase of 67-147% in GWP (gross world
product), with a median estimate of a doubling of world GDP.

From a human rights perspective, free migration may be seen to complement
Article 13 of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights: (1) Everyone has the
right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each state.
(2) Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to
return to his country.

~~~
mc32
What would prevent a tragedy of the commons-like effect where en-masse people
migrate from one place to a new one, deplete it, move to new pasture, deplete,
move to new pasture, asf?

When you sleep in the same place you shit you take care of it better, or
suffer the consequences of squalor. Regulation against pollution, water
quality, land use, acceptable norms, etc.

With open systems, no longer the state but but corporate entities would weild
power. I'm not sure that is a well thought out argument. Nevermind that this
would lead to a coalescing toward culture of China and the West dominating
everywhere. Not generally what progressives seek as an endgame.

Moreover, the trend is to split further. See Pakistan, India Bangladesh. They
used to be one country but split. Costa Rica, panama, Mexico used to be one
place, but split up, former USSR split up. They want to self agglomerate, go
ahead. Do it, you share culture, values, language, but instead they split up.

The proposal would result in a different kind if colonialism not too
dissimilar from the Dutch east India co where corporate entities wielded
enormous power but this would be worldwide.

~~~
whiddershins
In the modern world migrants tend to enhance, not deplete, an area.

Your model works best for agricultural societies with no land ownership. I'm
not sure how many historical examples we have of that.

In general, in the modern world, population density tends to increase economic
activity and have a growth effect on GDP.

In the modern world borders also prevent competition for citizens by different
social and political structures. Most tyrants and despots might be completely
defanged by the loss of their populace to more just and humane regions.

It is possible open borders could create a "market system" for the greatest
resource in the world: human capital. Which I guess could theoretically render
war obsolete.

~~~
mc32
"In the modern world migrants tend to enhance, not deplete, an area."

You realize that's the result of controlled migration, not uncontrolled
migration.

But your proposal sounds like a paradox. On the one hand you have no borders
but on the other hand someone is enforcing "state actor" laws. Without borders
corporations become the de facto government.

Why pay Japanese auto workers 1800 yen an hour when I can just put a factory
in the middle of the Indian countryside and pay 120 rupees? But instead of
just autos, do that for everything!

------
csense
What's the end-game of the war on terror? What victory condition do we need to
achieve to get terrorists to stop attempting massacres, so we can unwind these
security measures?

~~~
mmirate
Oh, that's the beauty of it all.

There is no end. No end to the war, and thus no end to the profitability of
the U.S.'s contracted armament/defense manufacturers. And no end to the
citizens' willingness to trade away their essential freedoms for a feeling of
safety.

~~~
avckp
I probably will never visit USA. I am only worried as this might set a
precedent for others and contribute to the pro-surveillance governments round
the globe. Can't Trump be tricked into disapproving this?

------
lukeqsee
With Global Entry and Precheck (which required partial fingerprinting), I
mostly avoid the hassles of the US security theater. However, I'm looking at
greatly increasing international flights (mostly in and out of the USA), and
this is a ridiculous invasion.

With the advent of Clear (the retina-based alternative to Precheck, seemingly
a harbinger of this DHS decision), I wonder how long until most of the
frequent travelers _willing_ submit all of their biometrics for a smoother and
simpler travel experience.

~~~
sseveran
While I have GE (I would have a Clear if I flew more) my intelligence still
feels insulted every time I travel. I pay a fee to the TSA every time I
travel. I paid again to get the GE which is because the fee they charge me
apparently doesn't cover an adequate number of screeners to ensure a quick
trip through security. All this hassle and expense and I am pretty sure that
they are unable to perform their job.

[http://www.nbcnews.com/business/travel/new-tsa-chief-vows-
im...](http://www.nbcnews.com/business/travel/new-tsa-chief-vows-
improve-96-failure-rate-weapons-detection-n401011)

------
rasengan0
This happened to us in mid May 2017 coming back from Germany to Philadelphia.
Lock step herded in snake lined queue, camera kiosks posted as confused
passengers deciphered touch screen directives to scan their passports and
stand for a photo. Each machine had what appeared to be cat5 cable and power
routed to the wall. After what appeared to be a cheap thermal printout of your
mug shot, passengers were instructed to take it to a human agent for further
processing. The most interesting aspect of this was the big sign of NO cameras
or smartphones allowed despite it being quite easy to see passport information
from adjacent stations. I assumed this was the new National ID effort to put
an end to any enemies of the State. After all this, there was the CBP
agricultural inspection and a security check all this from direct debarcation.
Basically you are trapped and there is no way of escape from these
processings. Welcome to the new State.

------
e12e
It's nice to see other government agencies doing their part for the
environment as the US withdraw from the climate accords. In this case we have
the DHS making a valiant effort to reduce international flights. /s

------
Zigurd
This would get resolved quickly if face recognition were democratized: Is the
public official ordering you around a known asshole? What's his Yelp rating?
Suddenly, privacy would become a thing.

~~~
Tharkun
Funny how things don't seem to work that way. What with police officers
arresting people who film them. Somehow privacy has become a privege.

------
ben_jones
The worst part for me in that the DHS likely spent billions of dollars on this
solution that is likely riddled with software and hardware bugs and will
ultimately catch less then a dozen petty criminals in its lifespan. Meanwhile
the raw data on innocent citizens will be harvested and at best analyzed and
stored indefinitely by the NSA and similar agencies, at worst it will be sold
to the highest bidder - and then shortly after to any bidder.

------
wheaties
Here's what they didn't say...

DHS shares all data with other groups. If those groups don't erase them then,
well... they at least can say they delete them.

------
avckp
Why do they want to store the image at all?

Compare against the stored values and discard the captured image. That should
be enough.

~~~
justinclift
> Why do they want to store the image at all?

If the scanners are upgraded to 3D (likely at some point), it'll make for a
good source of model data for future fabrication efforts.

Along the lines of
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14786863](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14786863)

------
pdimitar
As a foreign observer, to me USA are shooting themselves in the foot.

What made USA great in the first place is now being relentlessly attacked by
the USA itself. That's how it seems to me as a non-expert.

------
Tharkun
I suppose we can all opt out of the surveillance state by not staying alive?

~~~
whatnotests
Zoom, bang! Straight to the endgame!

