Tuesday, November 5, 2024

The real reason you keep getting rejected by airport e-gates

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Can my photo be too old?

A lot can happen in 10 years – and don’t most of us know it. But is it possible to age so much you can’t use an e-gate anymore?

While the government guidance is cautiously vague – recommending you order a new document “if you cannot be recognised from your passport photo” – the experts are less worried.

“The technology behind e-gates has come on massively in the past 20 years,” says Mike Franklin, a biometrics expert with security specialists C-Clarity. These days the cameras assess thousands of different features – like the shape of the corner of your eyes.

What’s more, he says, the power of artificial intelligence means that the system can take into account the date on your passport and work out how much your face and features might have changed in that time.

While the Home Office hasn’t officially confirmed that its e-gates use artificial intelligence, such capabilities are widespread when it comes to facial recognition.

What if I wear too much make-up?

While grey hairs or extra pounds might not confuse the e-gates, could a heavy makeover cause issues? 

That’s a claim made on TikTok, where a number of Gen Z “content creators” suggest that wearing too much make-up has stopped them from passing swiftly through passport control.

Despite their videos going viral, those who know the systems best are dismissive of the idea that any cosmetic change would make someone unrecognisable to the camera – including shaving your head entirely.

“Most TikTok-related travel content is as useful as the dancing videos,” adds Ott.

What if I’m very hungover?

Could a boozy weekend stop you in your tracks? That was the bombshell claim made some years ago by a company claiming to have studied the shortfalls in facial recognition systems.

While many of us can spot the telltale signs of a heavy night, the e-gate experts remain highly dubious that even a night on the tiles with Oliver Reed and Ernest Hemingway would change your face enough to fool a camera.

“Maybe that would happen on a very old and unsophisticated algorithm in the early 2000s, but not with the kind of technology we see at modern airports,” says Franklin.

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