SFO is one of the first airports to get Clear’s new real-time biometric eGates security checkpoint in partnership with the TSA, which was announced just weeks after the agency surreptitiously helped kill a crucial bill regulating facial recognition software.

As SFGate reports, the Transportation Security Administration announced a private partnership with Clear back in August in which the agency will be implementing Clear’s expedited eGate checkpoint system at select airports. The new eGate technology, which is currently only available to Clear Plus members who opt in — and shell out $199 per year, captures a live photo of the traveler at the gate and compares it with their physical identification and boarding pass, all without a human operator.

Clear launched the first set of eGates at three initial airports in August — Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL), Ronald Reagan  National Airport (DCA), and Seattle–Tacoma International Airport (SEA), and more recently, SFO and Buffalo Niagara International Airport (BUF), per a social media post.

The move is in anticipation of streamlining the influx of travelers heading to the upcoming 2026 World Cup events, several of which will be held at Santa Clara’s Levi’s Stadium, per SFGate. “We are proud to help make America’s airports great ahead of the World Cup. The U.S. should be leading on security, hospitality, and the travel experience,” Clear CEO Caryn Seidman Becker said in an August press release.

While Clear assures users’ their live photos are deleted immediately — after they’re sent to the TSA, the company does store users’ initial sign-up photos, per the Washington Post. Clear also says their technology cannot override TSA policies. “CLEAR transmits only limited data (live photo, boarding pass, ID photo used for enrollment and identity information) — it has no access to watchlists, cannot override TSA gate decisions, and does not manually open gates,” the company said in an August news release.

The use of biometric technology raises red flags for a lot of security advocates, especially considering Clear’s privacy policy says it will turn over user data to government agencies and law enforcement when requested.

As Adam Schwartz, the privacy litigation director for the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) told the Washington Post back in 2023, biometric technology makes users especially vulnerable to identity theft. “Biometrics are a particularly hazardous technology for many reasons,” Schwartz said. “We can’t change our biometrics without extreme measures like burning off our fingerprints or getting extreme facial reconstruction surgery. Unlike other numbers that can be changed if we’re a victim of a fraud or whatnot, we have our biometrics for life.”

Additionally, as The Travel reports, users have reported feeling misled upon finding out Clear was a private company rather than a government entity after signing up at the airport. “I think CLEAR is stupid and selling your biometric info to a private company / the government, just to cut the TSA line, is not smart,” one customer wrote. “You are paying them to give your biometric info in exchange for faster security."

There have also been reports of users nearly being pressured into using the eGates while trying to opt out, including Senator Jeff Merkley of Oregon, per the Washington Post. In November 2024, Merkley introduced the Traveler Privacy Protection Act, a bipartisan bill that would establish guardrails around facial recognition at airports. Additionally, in January 2025, a group of 12 senators called for a probe into the TSA’s use of facial recognition technology, per Biometric Update.

Per Politico, the Traveler Privacy Protection Act was ultimately shot down in August, which many say was due to the TSA’s heavy-handed influence.  

Image: Clear/Facebook