Soon, travellers at seven airports across India will be able to authenticate themselves using facial recognition technology under the Centre’s DigiYatra scheme. Starting from 31 August, passengers departing from Delhi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Varanasi, Vijayawada, Kolkata and Pune airports will be able to go for boarding without providing their physical boarding permits or identity cards.
Launched by the Ministry of Civil Aviation, DigiYatra is a biometric-based digital processing of passengers at airports. According to the india.gov.in portal, passengers will be automatically processed based on a facial recognition system at checkpoints, including entry point check, security check, aircraft boarding. It will also facilitate self-bag drop and check-in using facial recognition to identify passengers and data recall. DigiYatra will facilitate paperless travel and avoid identity check at multiple points.
DigiYatra will have a centralised registration system for passengers. Officials say the initiative will significantly reduce lines and wait times at security checkpoints and boarding gates.
An official stated that the Airports Authority of India (AAI) is a stakeholder in the non-profit Digi Yatra Foundation, which is launching a Digi Yatra Central Ecosystem that will integrate with the various systems involved, including government ID repositories, airport security systems, and airline backend networks.
Aadhaar details will initially be required for registration on the system by air travellers.
As per a News18 report, the system is being developed in accordance with the W3C specifications for decentralised identity (DID) and this makes it possible to exchange the numerous verified credentials needed in advance for transit through different airport checkpoints.
A mobile application on Android and Apple’s iPhones will also be launched for this purpose. The ecosystem’s backend has also been tested and made ready for launch. On the day of travel, the passenger’s facial data, which will act as ID proof, and ticket information will be sent to the airport automatically via the DigiYatra app. All the data will be properly encrypted.
The pre-security area and boarding areas of the airports will be equipped with biometric camera-based e-gates. The passenger’s face will act as his ID proof and travel document and will be validated by the system without any physical document checks. Passenger’s face will act as their ID proof and travel document to allow them to enter the security area and to board the flight.
Privacy experts have sounded caution over the system. Anushka Jain of Internet Freedom Foundation that there was no clarity about the airport can share the data with, as well as saying that the technology can become a hassle in certain cases.
“The government is assuming that face recognition technology is accurate, and it works all the time, which is not true. Testing the technology in a lab and in reality is different,” said Jain, as quoted by Hindustan Times.
“If one submits his/ her Aadhar card as an ID proof, which has an old photo, there are high chances that the photo might not match the person’s current facial features. In this manner, technology can become a hassle. Secondly, India does not have data protection law and so we do not know who the airport shares the data with (police, private technology companies etc). We do not know about how the data collection exercise will take place,” she added.
