In a statement provided to Engadget, a CBP spokesperson said:

“U.S. Customs and Border Protection is using biometric facial comparison technology to facilitate the entry and exit of international travelers while meeting the Congressional mandate to implement a biometric entry-exit system. U.S. citizens are out of scope of the mandated biometric entry-exit program. However, U.S. citizens are required to establish identity and citizenship to CBP and present a valid U.S. passport for international travel.

CBP did consider including US citizens in its facial recognition checks to avoid the challenges of having separate processes for foreign nationals and US citizens, TechCrunch reports. “Upon consultation with Congress and privacy experts, however, CBP determined that the best course of action is to continue to allow U.S. citizens to voluntarily participate in the biometric entry-exit program,” a CBP spokesperson said.

The ACLU, which spoke out against plans to conduct biometric scans on US citizens, is still concerned. In a statement, ACLU Senior Policy Analyst Jay Stanley said:

“The Department of Homeland Security’s plans to spread face recognition surveillance nationwide remain alarming, especially given the lack of congressional authorization and sufficient safeguards, the government’s past security failures, and unanswered questions about the technology’s effectiveness, bias, and broader societal implications. The government cannot be trusted with this surveillance technology, and Congress should put the brakes on its use.”

The story behind the the digital file started like an intellectual property heist film. A pair of artists claimed to have somehow sneaked into the museum with a 3D scanning rig and captured a surprisingly detailed digital replica of the bust, according to a story in the New York Times.

A number of experts noticed that the quality of the scan was much too high to have been done so hastily and declared it could only have been performed by the museum itself, according to Slate. Once Wenman realized that, he set out to obtain a copy of the file and make it available to the public. Since the Neus Museum is state owned, he initiated an FOIA-like request to get access.

“German freedom of information laws … grant everyone an unconditional right to access official information from federal agencies,” he explained in a Reason article. “That goes for any official record — conventional files, electronic records, drawings, graphics, plans and sound or video recordings.”

Despite the clear-cut law, the state was reluctant to give up the files, worried they would threaten gift shop sales. “The Egyptian Museum sells expensive Nefertiti replicas in its gift shop, and it implied that it needs to protect that revenue to finance its ongoing digitization efforts,” said Wenman. “This argument against open access is known as the ‘gift shop defense.'”

Cosmo Wenman

After a lot of back and forth, the museum finally relented and handed over the digital files on a USB key. However, they left it to Wenman to clean up and distribute the scan. The scan also contained a surprise: A copyright notice on the bottom of the bust, along with a non-commercial Creative Commons license.

“It’s unclear which elements of their digital copy of the bust of Nefertiti SPK imagines it has a copyright in,” wrote Wenman. “The original artifact is clearly in the public domain.”

To test it myself, I imported the file into 3DS Max and rendered it using Chaos Group’s V-Ray renderer. The level of detail on the model is incredible, letting you see the unbelievable craftsmanship that went into the 3,364-year-old bust, along with every chip, crack and scrape that happened over time. You can also see the scans and rotate around them on Wenman’s Sketchfab page, and download them from there as well.

The results are incredible, but Wenman wished he didn’t have to go through the three-year effort to bring the scan to the public. “Unfortunately, SPK’s stalling tactics and bad-faith arguments are not unique. (I’ve gone through something similar in my efforts to get the Rodin Museum in Paris to release its unpublished scans.),” he said. “I hope other museums will see SPK’s policy as an example of what not to do with their 3D data.”

Cosmo Wenman

These new Retail Access Control Standards (RACS) are Juul’s latest attempt to curb teen vaping. More than 50 retail chains — a total of more than 40,000 outlets — have agreed to comply. Juul will stop distributing products to retailers who aren’t RACS-certified by May 2021. And because the company recognizes that updating POS systems is no small task, it’s offering more than $100 million in incentives and financial support to retailers looking to implement the new system.

Juul is also expanding its track-and-trace program. That allows educators, law enforcement and parents to enter a Juul serial number into an online portal to see where the device was purchased. It was introduced as an experiment this spring, and it will now be rolled out nationwide.

Juul claims its target market is the one billion existing adult smokers globally, but the FDA has accused it of undermining efforts to prevent teen vaping. It’s also under investigation by both the House and Senate. The new POS rules could help Juul stave off more regulations and lawsuits — like the one filed recently by North Carolina. Though RACS would do little to prevent teens from buying the products online — an issue San Francisco is grappling with.

According to the FDA, in 2018, more than 3.6 million middle and high school students across the US were current e-cigarette users. The CDC has identified at least 193 cases of severe lung illnesses, which are potentially linked to vaping.