1 
2                                                     ORDER 2021-06: 
3                                     AN ORDER OF THE PORT OF SEATTLE COMMISSION 
4 
5                           to direct the Executive Director to develop and implement 
6                           executive policies banning Port and private sector uses of
7                           public-facing biometrics for mass surveillance, and for law
8                           enforcement  and  security  functions;  developing  and
9                           implementing Port policies  within the limitations of state
10                        and federal law  related to Port, federal and private-sector
11                        uses of public-facing biometrics at Port facilities for traveler
12                        functions; and endorsing federal legislation implementing a
13                        moratorium on federal uses of biometrics not explicitly
14                        approved by the United States Congress. 
15 
16                                                  PROPOSED 
17                                                JULY 13, 2021 
18 
19                                                INTRODUCTION 
20    On December 10, 2019, the Port of Seattle Commission passed Motion 2019-13  instituting
21    guiding principles for the public-facing use of biometric technology at Port facilities and by Port
22    employees; for the purposes of the Motion, "public-facing" was defined as any areas of Port
23    facilities where visitors, travelers and other non-employees might reasonably be. 
24 
25    This action was both in response to the rapid implementation of biometric technology
26    throughout the country  particularly the use of facial recognition technology in aviation and
27    maritime settings  as well as because of limited state and federal policy guidance on biometrics 
28    to protect individual liberties, equity, and privacy. The Motion directed Port staff to develop
29    tangible, enforceable policy recommendations based on these principles in collaboration with a
30    Biometrics External Advisory Group and with the oversight of a Port of Seattle Commission
31    Biometrics Special Committee. 
32 
33    Aviation and maritime uses of public-facing biometrics have potential operational, customer
34    service and public health benefits but also create risks and concerns related to privacy, equity
35    and civil liberties. To balance these interests, it is appropriate for the Port to regulate  within
36    the bounds of its authority and to the extent permissible under state and federal law  the public-
37    facing use of this technology at Port facilities and by Port employees. After more than a year and
38    a half of work and approximately twenty public meetings, Port staff have developed policy
39    recommendations for multiple "use cases" for public-facing biometrics at Port facilities. Already,
40    one set of use case policy recommendations  regarding "Biometric Air Exit", which is the
41    federally-prescribed  use  of  facial  recognition  technology  for  the  boarding  of  departing
42    international flights  was passed by the Port of Seattle Commission in March 2020. 
43 
44 

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45    As part of this policymaking process, the Port recognizes certain limitations on its authority to
46    regulate all public-facing biometrics at Port facilities. For example, the federal government has 
47    authority to implement its own systems, particularly in federally controlled areas of Port facilities
48    such as the U.S. Transportation Security Administration (TSA) security checkpoints at the airport
49    and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) customs processing areas at airport and cruise
50    facilities. Similarly, the federal Airline Deregulation Act (ADA) prevents the Port from exercising
51    broad control over airlines' implementation of certain customer-facing systems and processes at
52    airports.  Regardless, the Port can take significant steps with all Port stakeholders  including
53    federal agency partners and airline tenants  to pursue alignment with the Commission's
54    biometrics principles. 
55 
56    In  December  2020,  the  Commission  Biometrics  Special  Committee  recommended  full
57    Commission consideration of the remaining use case policy recommendations, as well as
58    Commission action on other policies that align with Motion 2019-13. This Order would direct the
59    Executive Director to implement executive policies aligned with the recommendations endorsed
60    by the Special Committee. 
61 
62                                              TEXT OF THE ORDER 
63 
64    The Port Commission hereby directs the Executive Director to develop and implement executive
65    policies to: 
66        1)  Extend the Port's existing ban on Port and private-sector use of public-facing biometrics
67            for mass surveillance1 at Port facilities, and by Port employees overall. 
68 
69        2)  Extend the Port's existing ban on Port and private-sector use of public-facing biometrics
70            to perform real time or near-real time law enforcement and security functions at Port
71            facilities, and by Port employees overall. 
72 
73        3)  Ensure, to the greatest extent permissible under state and federal law, that all uses of
74            public-facing biometrics at the Port's aviation and maritime facilities for traveler functions
75            are in alignment with the Port's biometric principles and policies. 
76 
77    In addition, the Executive Director shall include in the Port's Federal Legislative Agenda support
78    for legislation that institutes a moratorium on federal government use of public-facing biometrics
79    except for uses explicitly authorized by the United States Congress, and shall direct staff to
80    advocate for this policy to the Washington Congressional delegation and relevant members of
81    the Biden-Harris Administration. 
82 
83 
84 
85 
86 
1 Defined as "the use of public-facing biometrics without the awareness and active participation of the individual." 

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87                                      STATEMENT IN SUPPORT OF THE ORDER 
88 
89    Biometrics is the use of technology to identify an individual through analysis of that person's
90    physical and behavioral characteristics. Examples of physical characteristics include the unique
91    features of an individual's face or their fingerprint, while examples of behavioral characteristics
92    include an individual's voice, signature, or how they walk.
93 
94    Due to technological advances, perceived customer benefits and federal requirements, there has
95    been a significant increase in public-facing biometric technology deployment by public and
96    private sector users, including in airport and seaport settings. In fact, public-facing biometrics are
97    already being used at dozens of U.S. airports and cruise terminals by those who see the
98    technology as a major benefit to travelers  both because of the potential for a faster and more
99    efficient travel experience, as well as the belief that it offers a more accurate security process
100    than human review of documents. In addition, the COVID-19 pandemic has increased interest in
101    "touchless technologies" as a way to reduce potential transmission of disease; facial recognition
102    biometrics could potentially reduce direct interactions like handing documents back-and-forth or
103    touching screens. 
104 
105    Public-facing biometrics are already used in various forms at the Port of Seattle's aviation and
106    maritime facilities, such as 1) CLEAR, a private company providing an option to those customers
107    who want expedited screening at TSA checkpoints to voluntarily supply their biometric data in
108    order to verify their identities, 2) CBP use of biometrics at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport
109    (SEA) to validate arriving international traveler identities, and 3) use of biometrics to validate the
110    identities of disembarking passengers from Norwegian Cruise Line ships docked at Pier 66. 
111 
112    However, many members of the public and various advocacy organizations have expressed
113    concerns about the rapidly expanding use of biometrics. These stakeholders have raised issues
114    around privacy, equity and civil liberties, as well  as the potential for unregulated "mass
115    surveillance." To that end, after holding two Study Sessions, conducting stakeholder outreach
116    and doing multiple site visits, the Port Commission passed Motion 2019-13 on December 10,
117    2019  adopting seven "biometrics guiding principles," and directing staff to translate those
118    principles into tangible, enforceable policies. 
119 
120    Since the start of 2020, a working group of Port staff has collaborated with an external advisory
121    group of key stakeholders to accomplish that task. One of the key findings from this process is
122    that the various use cases of biometrics require separate analysis as to how the Port should
123    (consistent with local, state and federal requirements) apply the biometrics guiding principles to
124    develop policy. One unified set of policies is not practical because of key differences from one
125    use case to another, such as who manages the data, requirements imposed by state or federal
126    law, and the benefits and risks associated with each use. 
127 
128 
129 
130 

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131    One key limitation on the Port's policymaking process is the federal law and regulations that
132    govern federal agency and airline activities at Port facilities. Regardless, the Port can take
133    significant steps to ensure alignment with the Commission's biometrics principles and believes
134    that all proposed policies are consistent with the preemptive limitations on the Port's authority
135    posed by state and federal law. 
136 
137    As a result of its process, the Port staff has proposed multiple use case policy recommendations: 
138         Policies governing Port actions and rules regarding Biometric Air Exit, which is the use of
139            biometrics (specifically facial recognition technology) to verify the identity of departing
140            international air passengers using CBP's Traveler Verification System (TVS).2 
141         Policies governing Port actions in response to CBP's use of biometrics (including facial
142            recognition) to confirm the identities of arriving international passengers as they exit
143            aircraft or cruise ships, as well as future federal government use of biometrics for other
144            traveler functions.3 
145         Policies governing Port actions and rules regarding the use of biometrics (including facial
146            recognition) to perform real time or near-real time public-facing law enforcement and
147            security functions at Port facilities. 
148         Policies governing Port actions and rules regarding a variety of uses of biometrics for
149            traveler functions by Port staff and/or private-sector entities. 
150 
151    This Order would direct the Executive Director to implement executive policies aligned with the
152    remaining use cases (in addition to the already-approved Biometric Air Exit policies), and would
153    also direct the creation of an overarching executive policy banning Port and private-sector uses 
154    of public-facing biometrics for mass surveillance  as defined by Motion 2019-13. That Motion 
155    defines mass surveillance as the use of public-facing biometrics without the awareness and active
156    participation of the individual; more concisely, no one at a Port facility should fear that the Port
157    or a private sector tenant is actively tracking them with near time or near real time biometric
158    technology as they traverse a Port facility. 
159 
160    Almost as important as the proposed public-facing biometrics policies themselves is the process
161    used to achieve these recommendations. The Port Commission has held multiple public meetings
162    and study sessions on this topic, and the Port hired an outside facilitation firm to manage the
163    advisory group process  to ensure full and equal participation from all stakeholders. Below is a
164    list of all public and advisory group meetings that helped inform Port staff efforts to develop
165    these recommendations. 
166 
167             September 10, 2019: First Commission Study Session on Biometric Technology 
168             October 29, 2019: Second Commission Study Session on Biometric Technology 

2 The policy recommendations for this use case were approved by the Port Commission on March 10, 2020, and
implemented as Executive Policy (EX-23). 
3 The Port has no jurisdiction over these activities, but can still play an important transparency and accountability
role. 

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169             December 10, 2019: Commission Public Meeting action on Biometrics Principles
170               Motion 2019-13 
171             January 17, 2020: External Advisory Group meeting #1 
172             February 7, 2020: External Advisory Group meeting #2 
173             February 18, 2020: Commission Biometrics Special Committee meeting 
174             February 25, 2020: Commission Public Meeting briefing on Biometric Air Exit policy
175               recommendations 
176             March 6, 2020: External Advisory Group meeting #3 
177             March 10, 2020: Commission Public Meeting action on Biometric Air Exit policy
178               recommendations 
179             March 31, 2020: Commission Biometrics Special Committee meeting 
180             April 14, 2020: Commission Public Meeting action to extend deadlines for policy
181               recommendations 
182             July 10, 2020: External Advisory Group meeting #4 
183             July 24, 2020: External Advisory Group meeting #5 
184             August 7, 2020: External Advisory Group meeting #6 
185             August 21, 2020: External Advisory Group meeting #7 
186             September 25, 2020: External Advisory Group meeting #8 
187             October 8, 2020: Commission Biometrics Special Committee meeting 
188             December 11, 2020: Commission Biometrics Special Committee meeting 
189 
190    In addition, all meeting materials  including External Advisory Group meetings  were made
191    publicly  available  via  the  Port's  Biometrics  External  Advisory  Group  webpage   at
192    https://www.portseattle.org/page/biometrics-external-advisory-group. 
193 
194    It is important to note that not all members of the Biometrics External Advisory Group agree with
195    the policy recommendations being submitted, for a wide range of reasons: from some
196    stakeholders who see these recommendations as overly limiting and proscriptive, to other
197    stakeholders believe the current state of facial recognition technology is incompatible with the
198    Commission's Biometric Principles and should be banned for all uses at Port facilities; however,
199    several participants believe the technology has enormous value and promise but requires
200    regulation to protect against bias or infringement on individuals' privacy or civil rights. To that
201    end, all stakeholder concerns are being submitted as part of the Commission materials to provide
202    full transparency  outlining changes they think should be made to the specific use case
203    recommendations and/or reasons they think the entire approach should be different. 




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