For years, the tobacco industry has denied vaping causes cancer. Similarly, the biometrics industry, despite knowing facial recognition destroys everyone’s privacy, claims it can help stop the spread of COVID-19. It is like they ripped their marketing strategy straight from the pages of Big Tobacco’s playbook.
CLEAR’s plan to force employees to submit to daily facial recognition tests and daily health quizzes before they can go to work will destroy any lasting thoughts Americans had about their privacy.
Axios.com’s article describes how businesses can profit by linking employee personal health to their faces.
Before businesses can effectively reopen, workers and customers need to be assured that they’re unlikely to encounter coronavirus infections. Linking COVID-19 to IDs could make that easier, but to be fully effective, it requires a more vigorous and reliable testing regimen, as well as public acceptance of a new level of tech-enabled health surveillance.
CLEAR’s facial recognition/health surveillance program forces employees to submit to CLEAR’s real-time “Health Pass” quizzes.
The system works like this: Using a Health Pass app, people have their identity validated through facial recognition, then they indicate whether they’re sick by taking a real-time health quiz and uploading test results. That would generate a QR code, which can be scanned by some device, like a phone or a Clear kiosk, to allow entry into an office or store within a certain time period.
Imagine giving a biometrics company the power to decide who gets to work and who doesn’t in real-time? Because that is exactly what CLEAR wants.
Employees will be “asked” to download the CLEAR app on their smartphones and then enroll in the so-called free service. I italicized “asked” because while it is technically true they will be asked to download the app, they will not be allowed to work unless they use CLEAR’s app.
Imagine a biometrics company making deals with businesses to force employees to give up their biometric privacy just to earn a living.
Read More: CLEAR Biometrics Wants To Force Employees To Submit To Daily Facial Recognition Checks
