We Finally Know Why the TSA Is Cracking Down on Clear at Airport Security

anti-clickbait tldr: system uses facial recognition, complete with the expected false positives, false negatives, and bias.

Key passage:

Clear’s methods determined its facial-recognition system to enroll new members was vulnerable to abuse, said people familiar with the review, who asked not to be identified discussing security-sensitive information.

The computer-generated photos of prospective customers at times captured blurry images that only showed chins and foreheads, or faces obscured by surgical masks and hoodies.

The process — which allowed Clear employees to manually verify prospective customers’ identities after its facial recognition system raised flags — created the potential for human error.

Apparently last July “a man slipped through Clear’s screening lines at Reagan National Airport near Washington, before a government scan detected ammunition — which is banned in the cabin — in his possession.” And he’d “almost managed to board a flight under a false identity.” The TSA checkpoint found the ammunition, which is what it is supposed to do. This had nothing to do with his identity. There’s no suggestion that the passenger intended to do anything nefarious.