Is Singapore’s New Hotel Guest Authentication Just Creepy Surveillance?

The Singapore Tourism Board announced this month the launch of an “E-Visitor Authentication” as part of new hotel “industry-wide” initiatives. This led to reports of an “automated facial recognition system” in the city that helps hotels reduce check-in time — but is it what it’s cracked up to be? “Participating hotels can use facial recognition technology to authenticate their guests’ identities, and the guest data will be sent to the Immigration & Checkpoints Authority to verify the validity of their stay,” the Singapore Tourism Board and the Singapore Hotel Association said in a joint statement announcing the E-Visitor Authentication. Three hotels in the city are piloting the program, namely Ascott Orchard, Swissotel The Stamford, and Grand Park City Hall. While described in media reports as a new facial recognition system, the E-Visitor Authentication does not actually include facial recognition technology. Hotels have to engage their own third-par