Clear Secure, Inc. is an American technology company that operates biometric travel document verification systems at some major airports and stadiums.
History
Origin and founders
Steven Brill and Ajay Amlani were original owners of Clear, a subsidiary of Verified Identity Pass, founded in 2003. Ajay Amlani left the company in 2006 to pursue another identity technology company named YOU Technology. Steven Brill stepped away from the company in 2008.[2] Clear shut down in 2009 after filing for bankruptcy.[3]
2010s
Caryn Seidman-Becker purchased CLEAR out of bankruptcy in 2010 with her partner and co-founder Ken Cornick. They relaunched the company in 2012. Clear operates out of its headquarters in Manhattan, New York.[4]
2020s
In 2021, Clear went public as Clear Secure, Inc. on the NYSE with the ticker symbol ‘YOU’.[5]
In November 2024, Clear debuted new EnVe Pods that will reduce the time it takes to verify travelers—no fingerprint or eye scan will be required. Instead, the pods will use high-resolution, wide-angle cameras to identify users. According to CLEAR, the process will be five times faster than the current system.[9]
Security incidents
In 2022, Clear's verification service allowed an airline passenger using a false identity to pass through its system; the passenger was also found by the TSA to be carrying ammunition.[10] The company noted in a formal statement that it was due to "a single human error". The program's facial-recognition system for enrolling new customers was also noted as sometimes relying on inadequate photos such as the chin or shoulder.[11]
Two incidents occurred in 2023 where individuals not enrolled in the company's security program were escorted through a TSA security checkpoint without having presented their identification. One of the incidents involved a passenger who had used a boarding pass that was picked out of a trash bin.[12]
The incidents have gathered the attention of the House Homeland Security Committee, with members Bennie Thompson and John Katko in December 2022 requesting that the TSA require all passengers, including those using Clear, have their ID verified by TSA. In August 2023 TSA advised the company and participating airports to increase the number of IDs to be checked by a TSA officer.[13]
While Clear can expedite the security screening process, the effectiveness of TSA's PreCheck program has increased in recent years. In some cases, PreCheck may offer comparable or even faster screening times, potentially reducing the perceived value of Clear's services.[14]
Patents
The company has received patents for "physical token-less security screening using biometrics", which allows a person to be identified using their individual and distinctive biometric identity that the company creates.[15] The company has been successful in filing and receiving several patents throughout the years. On February 4, 2020, the company was granted the ability to ticket people through their biometric identities. Before this patent, the company was also granted two patents on January 14, 2020, to conduct pre-identification before an individual approached the stationed device and to use individual biometric identities to expedite interactions with people in the close vicinity. To simplify and expedite the process even further, on December 31, 2019, the company was granted a patent to use mobile devices in enrolling into the system.
CLEAR has partnerships with the European company Oberthur Technologies. Oberthur provides CLEAR with identification cards encoded with information that is beyond a normal ID card. They follow the NIST standard FIPS 201 (Federal Information Processing Standard Publication 201) for Personal Identity Verification (PIV), a requirement for all U.S. government employees and contractors.[16]
Anti-terrorism
In June 2012, CLEAR received certification under the SAFETY Act (Support Anti-Terrorism by Fostering Effective Technologies Act of 2002) by the United States Department of Homeland Security.[17][18]
In April 2023, CLEAR began offering digital identity verification services for LinkedIn users.[25] "Verified" users are able to display a green and blue checkmark on their profile.[26]
CLEAR had a former partnership with car rental company Hertz until the company declared bankruptcy.[27][28]
The company charges its customers $189 per year for a premium program named CLEAR Plus, however, it can be lowered if the user is a member of Delta SkyMiles, United MileagePlus, or holds an American ExpressCenturion, Platinum, or Green Card. This membership allows them to skip long lines, whether they are at a stadium, an arena, or an airport.[31] By expanding and diversifying their locations, CLEAR also receives additional revenue from sports teams, who pay licensing fees.[32]
Awards
In June 2019, Clear CEO Caryn Seidman-Becker and President Ken Cornick were given the 2019 EY Entrepreneur Of The Year Award for the New York Region.[33]
^"Wipo Publishes Patent of Alclear for 'Physical Token-Less Security Screening Using Biometrics' (American Inventors)". US Fed News. November 20, 2016.
