No, thank you.

A few weeks ago I flew to a business meeting and back, and I am freaking appalled at how many things that make you less secure are being marketed as things that make you more secure.

As Sports Team says, it's all just lies, lies, lies, lies.

Let's start with...

A young salesman literally leapt out into the walkway, grabbed my arm, and tried to herd me over to the Clear station. "Tired of long TSA lines?" he asked. "Just stand here!" — and then he tried to take my picture.

I dodged, choked out "no thank you!", and channeled my inner Bilbo Baggins. There was no explanation of what Clear actually does. No mention of what I'd be exchanging for the convenience. Just a quick flash of a camera, and my biometric data (the measurements of your physical features — your face, your fingerprints — that are unique to you and, critically, can never be changed) would've been theirs.

Now, Clear will tell you they don't sell your biometric data. And technically, that's their policy. But here's what they do: they operate a fast-growing commercial identity platform now used by Docusign, T-Mobile, Medicare, and others — built entirely on the biometric profiles of their members. Your face isn't being sold like a mailing list. It's being used to build and power a commercial network that went public at a $4.5 billion valuation. The question isn't just "who buys it." It's: what gets built with it, who controls it, and what happens when things go wrong?

(For the record: Clear has had three notable security incidents, if that helps make the case.)

The line really wasn't all that bad, for the record. I got to the front, where they check your passport and ticket. "Stand here please," the agent said — and I realized, a split second later, that she'd moved me directly in front of a camera.

"No thank you!" I said again. She looked puzzled, said "fine," and that was that.

(They tried the exact same thing after the bag scan. Twice in one trip. Cool, cool.)

The TSA says photos taken during these screenings are deleted within 24 hours. Maybe! But why does the TSA need to take my picture when they literally just looked at my passport photo? Because every scan helps normalize the infrastructure — and systems built for convenience have a way of expanding their mandate over time.

Here's the deal: your biometric data is being collected to build out surveillance infrastructure. That's it. That's the whole thing.

Is some of this data used for legitimate purposes? Sure. But given how many verifiably awful people are involved in building tools with your data, the right move is to block biometric collection wherever and however you can. And unlike a stolen password, you can't reset your face.

Opt out. Every time. Always.

For a deeper dive, YK Hong's "Opt Out of Biometric Theft, Facial Recognition Tech, and Data Scraping" is an excellent resource — practical, thorough, and free.

There is no reason anyone needs your photo or your fingerprint to let you catch a flight. You don't have to comply just because someone points a camera at you. You just have to say, politely, "no thank you." That's it. That's the whole move.

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