Canada announces biometric requirement for visa holders

Biometric data collection evolves and expands in Canada (CBC)

Citizenship and Immigration Canada told CBC News that digital photos and fingerprints are "the only biometrics data applicants will have to provide" under the government's plan for expanded collection of data. Visitors will have to pay $85 to cover the cost of data collection.

Travelers who don't need a visa to travel to Canada are, apparently, unaffected.

Forecast: North American market

New Report Suggests North America as Growth Leader in Biometric Technology Market (M2SYS)

The report suggests that, “the global biometric technology, types, and applications market is expected to reach $13.89 billion by 2017 at an estimated CAGR of 18.7%,” and that, “North America is a market leader in the biometric technology market.”

What’s interesting about the prediction that North America is positioned as a market leader in biometric technology is that it is arguably the region with the most opposition and resistance to it.

Is that irony, or has the American public's opposition to biometrics been overstated?

New Canadian biometrics requirement for certain visa types begins next Wednesday

Canada introduces new biometric visa requirements (Dhaka Tribune)

When a traveller arrives in Canada at a port of entry, a Canadian border services officer will use all available sources of information to confirm that person’s identity.

This new requirement will not only help protect the safety and security of Canadians while helping facilitate legitimate travel, it will also protect prospective visitors by making it more difficult for others to forge, steal or use an applicant’s identity to gain access to Canada, it said.

Proof that no border control system will ever be perfect

Canadian man who swam to Detroit after 8 beers sorry for all the fuss (MSN)

Canada: Details on new biometric policies for certain visas

Canada to begin collecting biometric data from certain foreign nationals (International Law Office)

From 2013 temporary resident visa, study permit and work permit applicants from certain visa-required countries and territories seeking to enter Canada will be required to have their biometric information (ie, fingerprints and photograph) collected overseas before arriving in Canada. Canadian citizens and permanent residents will not be subject to the proposed regulations.

Fingerprints collected abroad will be sent to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police for storage and will be checked against the fingerprint records of refugee claimants, previous deportees, persons with Canadian criminal records and previous temporary resident applicants before a visa decision is made. The biometric identity established abroad will then be checked by a Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) officer at a Canadian port of entry when the temporary resident applies for admission to Canada.

Much more: which countries; what types of visa; and implementation dates at the link.

US-Canada information sharing

US and Canada to begin biometric sharing (Expat Forum)

Canada and the United States are to start sharing fingerprints, names, photos, birthdays and nationalities of people applying for visas from next year. The name, date of birth and gender details will be shared automatically in 2013 and by 2014 other biometric details such as photos and fingerprints will be added to the system.

Preventing the visa switcheroo

Canada to require biometric data with some visa applications from 2013 (WorkPermit.com)

The biometric data required will be a photograph and fingerprints. The information will be held on a database and will be checked when the applicant arrives in Canada to ensure that the correct person has travelled to Canada. The system will come into operation in 2013.

Canada military to spread biometric knowledge domestically

Canadian Forces Expands Its Biometric Capabilities But Remains Silent On The Details (Ottawa Citizen)

...[I]n an April 2010 directive issued by then Chief of the Defence Staff Gen. Walter Natynczyk, the military was ordered to expand such capabilities beyond those being detained in Afghanistan.

The directive called on Canadian Forces planners to “shape” research conducted by the DND’s science organization, Defence Research and Development Canada, so they could identify new future technologies that could improve the collection of biometric data.
...
The directive was aimed at dealing with the Afghanistan mission. But it didn’t explain whether the call to expand biometric capabilities to support other government departments, as well as the need to conduct new research, was for future international missions, support for domestic operations or a combination of both.

Is the Five Country Conference hitting its stride on ID?

The US, UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand (Five Country Conference) share information, including biometrics, on foreign visitors. Reading between the lines of the article linked below, they appear to hitting their stride.

Biometrics has "just completely changed the way we do business," DHS director of US-VISIT. (Fierce Homeland Security)

See also:
Privacy Impact Assessment for the US-VISIT Five Country Joint Enrollment and Information-Sharing Project (2009 pdf at DHS.gov)

Canada and the US to require better ID from border crossers

Border law will demand travel docs from Canadians: Documents (Embassy)

Citizenship and Immigration Canada plans to introduce new legal rules that would force Canadians and Americans to present authorized travel documents such as passports when entering Canada, according to departmental notes.

Government documents obtained by Embassy under access to information legislation show the move, part of the perimeter security plan between Canada and the United States, will bring Canadian and American law closer.

Under the US Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative, Canadians and others have had to pack official travel documents like passports since 2007 when they fly to the US, and since 2009 when driving or sailing there.

Kenya: Government signs contract for Canadian BVR's

Canadian firm to supply Kenya with voting kits (Xinhua)

The Kenyan government has finally signed a contract with the Canadian Commercial Corporation (CCC), for the supply of 15,000 Biometric Voter Registration (BVR) kits to enable the East African nation hold credible polls in 2013.

A statement from the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) said on Tuesday the contract was inked on Monday evening in Nairobi by Finance Ministry Permanent Secretary Joseph Kinyua, CCC's Director David Olsen and IEBC's Chief Executive Officer James Oswago.

"The Canadian agency gave a written undertaking on the integrity and commercial standing of the firm," IEBC said in a statement issued in Nairobi.

Click here for the whole strange saga of the Kenya biometric voter register tender.

Kenya Inks Canadian Loan for Biometric Kits

Kenya: Govt Signs Deal With Canada for BVR Kits (All Africa)

The government yesterday signed a loan agreement with its Canadian counterpart for the Biometric Voter Registration kits. Justice minister Eugene Wamalwa confirmed that the Cabinet sub-committee yesterday met the Canadians to sign the memorandum of understanding.

The committee has been negotiating with the Canadians over the Sh4.6 billion deal.

The loan carries no interest but the Canadians get to pick the biometric voter registration (BVR) kit vendor.

Kenya Biometric Election Registration Update

The Kenya biometric voter initiative is still lurching along...

The big update is that there will be an update.

Kenya: State to Give Voter Kit Update, Says Eugene (The Star - Nairobi via All Africa)

Justice minister Eugene Wamalwa said the update will be made after a stakeholders' meeting to be held before the end of this week.

He said the tender was expected to be complete "soon as possible" to enable the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission start voter registration in readiness for the next year's general election. This statement is expected before Friday.
...
"I can comment about which company will be given the award since its the Canadian who will determine the winner of the tender," said Wamalwa. Canadian firm, Code Inc, which was involved in the pilot BVR project of 18 constituencies in Kenya before the 2010 referendum is also among those said to be considered for the tender.

I think he means he "can't comment." It's the only way the rest of the sentence makes sense.



See also: Strange Things Afoot in Kenya Biometric Voter Registration Procurement, which ends with this summary chronology...

1. IEBC solicits proposals

2. IEBC narrows list to four providers

3. For whatever reason, IEBC can't choose among them.

4. IEBC cancels the project foreclosing any recourse to the bidders who followed the IEBC's instructions.

5. Hilary Clinton offers Kenya free biometric registration kits.

6. IEBC rejects the offer citing (unstated) political implications that would have arisen from such a donation, and a lack of time to complete the process.

7. IEBC makes a request of the Cabinet to acquire biometric registration kits through a government to government arrangement (Ghana, perhaps. UPDATE: It turns out to be Canada).

8. Laws will be changed to ensure that there's enough time.

9. Vendors scratch heads.

10. Still, nobody is sure where the kits will come from.

Since then, Kenya has received a KES 5.4B interest free loan from Canadian government.

4,600,000,000.00 KES	=	54,534,677.93 USD
Kenyan Shilling	↔	US Dollar
1 KES = 0.0118554 USD		1 USD = 84.3500 KES

The government of Kenya has outsourced all decision making about the procurement to the Canadians, the political implications in point 6 above apparently mitigated.

More innovation to come

Canadian banks ramping up mobile initiatives (Yahoo Finance Canada) Biometrics, too.

Canada, US Work Well Together on Border Issues

Canada-U.S. deal aims to smooth flow of refugees (Vancouver Sun)

the United States plan to join forces in order to better deal with "irregular flows" of refugees that turn up in North America or migrate within the continent, newly declassified documents show.

By 2014, the two countries will also begin routinely sharing biometric information about travellers, such as fingerprints.

And Canada is laying the groundwork for legislative and regulatory changes that will require all travellers - including Canadian and U.S. citizens - to present a secure document such as a passport or enhanced driver's licence when entering Canada. Such a document is already required to enter the U.S.

A border isn't really a big deal if those on both sides of it have the same rules about who can go in and out of the country.

The thing is, while sharing the world's longest international border and the world's largest trading relationship [PDF], Canada and the United States haven't harmonized their immigration and visa rules — and they don't wish to.

That's all well within the scope of each sovereign country's citizens to determine but it also implies that a lot of effort is required of both sides to make sure things operate smoothly. Biometric ID management technology can help.

A Hundred Pounds of Cocaine Seized Despite Several Security Breaches

Convicted drug smuggler breached security 7 times (Richmond Review)

Ironically, his unauthorized access to the customs hall was recorded by a new technology introduced the same year Von Holtum was caught, and designed to sound alarm bells.

Billed in January of 2007 by the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority as "the world's first dual biometric airport identification program for non-passengers acccessing restricted areas of the airport," the RAIC (Restricted Area Identity Card) program was designed to detect and record the comings and goings of airport personnel, including whenever they enter restricted zones.

Security systems can be complex, especially in places like airports. For them to work, they have to bee well planned and someone has to be paying attention to them. In this case, it looks like there wasn't a mechanism in place to bring several instances of odd behavior to the attention of officials.

Security technology, however awesome, can't manage an organization. People have to do that.

On the other hand, security is usually redundant and provided in layers. The hundred-or-so pounds of cocaine, after all, was seized.

Canada Moving Toward Biometric Visitor Visas

Appeal mechanism needed for biometric visa plan due to imperfect system: report (Winnipeg Free Press)

Saying no biometrics system is perfect, an internal report urges the federal government to create an avenue of appeal for visa applicants who are rejected because of a false fingerprint match. The Conservative government is moving toward using biometrics — such as fingerprints, iris scans and other unique identifiers — to vet all foreigners entering the country.

As a first step, it soon plans to require applicants for a visitor visa, study permit or work permit to submit 10 electronic fingerprints and a photo before they arrive in Canada. The prints will be searched against RCMP databanks. Upon arrival the Canada Border Services Agency will use the data to verify that the visa holder is the same person as the applicant.

The big news is that Canada is going biometric with its travel visas.

The author's discussion of appeals and privacy, however, seems a bit overwrought.

Any ID management system, whether it has to do with biometrics or not, must include provisions for sussing out mistakes (appeals) and maintaining the security (privacy) of information.

Biometric systems aren't robots about to take over the Canada Border Services Agency, they're just another tool for them to use and adding a fingerprint to the visa system will, in all likelihood, reduce the number of mistaken identifications and streamline the existing appeals process.

The article continues...

It [the report] says that in addition to false matches, privacy concerns associated with the use of biometric technologies can also include unauthorized use of the information, discrimination through profiling or surveillance, and retention of the data beyond the length of time needed.

To preserve the privacy rights of applicants, the report also recommends:
— those applying for visas be told what information will be collected and how it will be used;
— there be standards as to how long the fingerprints, photos and biographical details are kept and when they should be destroyed;
— memoranda between Citizenship and Immigration and the RCMP and border services agency be reviewed to determine what additional provisions for privacy and security may be needed.

It's not entirely clear that "transparency" rather than "privacy" isn't the proper prism for examining the issues surrounding the information provided by visa applicants.

It's really nice of Canada to be considerate of the sensitivities of visa applicants, to deal with them in a transparent manner, and take thorough decisions regarding data retention, but if someone wants to visit a country that requires them to procure a visa, privacy (ed. between the applicant and the visa issuing country) doesn't really enter into it. They either supply the required information or they don't and those issues come up with or without biometrics.

Canada Immigration Minister Supports Biometric ID for Non-Citizen Permanent Residents

Feds to consider biometrics for permanent residents to combat fraud (Vancouver Sun)

"I think in principle, we should be doing everything we reasonably can to identify visitors or immigrants and ensure they don't represent a threat to Canada's safety, so biometrics is the best technical tool at our disposal and I think in principle, that it should be applied to not just temporary but also permanent residents," Kenney said Thursday after testifying before a Commons committee reviewing Bill C-31, the Protecting Canada's Immigration Act.

Canada: Facial Analysis Tool Applied to Windsor City Council

Look who's smiling at City Hall (Windsor Star)

I enjoy seeing the playful uses of new technology and the Windsor Star article using face.com facial analysis to have some fun with the city council definitely qualifies.

Photo: Windsor Star uses face.com software to rank of city councilors' happiness.

Marra, who described himself as a “happy-go-lucky kind of guy,” said people who know him would be surprised by face.com’s bleak assessment of his picture.

Read it. It's funny.

Canada: Strange Things Afoot at the British Columbia Privacy Commissioner's Office

Canada: British Columbia Privacy Commissioner Says No Drivers License Facial Recognition Searches for Law Enforcement Without Court Order

First some background:

From Wikipedia:

The 2011 Vancouver Stanley Cup riot was a public disturbance that broke out in the downtown core of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada on Wednesday, June 15, 2011. The riots happened immediately after the conclusion of the Boston Bruins' win over the Vancouver Canucks in game seven of the Stanley Cup Finals, which won the Stanley Cup for Boston. At least 140 people were reported as injured during the incident, one critically; at least four people were stabbed, nine police officers were injured, and 101 people were arrested that night, with 16 further arrests following the event.

Dramatic Photos Here

Enter the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia (ICBC), which administers the province's drivers license aparatus:

Insurance corporation offers to help ID rioters (CBC - June 18, 2011)

The Insurance Corporation of B.C. is offering Vancouver police the use of its facial recognition software to aid in the investigation into Wednesday night's riot.

Troubled by the ICBC's offer, the British Columbia privacy commissioner launched an investigation. The Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner (OIPC) is independent from government and monitors and enforces British Columbia's Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FIPPA) and Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA).

That's the background and the primary actors.

The BC privacy commissioner has now issued a press release of her findings:

ICBC cannot use facial recognition to identify Stanley Cup rioters without a court order, says B.C.’s Privacy Commissioner (OIPC Press Release - pdf)

The Insurance Corp. of British Columbia cannot use facial recognition to identify Stanley Cup rioters without a court order, B.C.'s privacy commissioner said in a report released Friday.

A passage of critical importance states:

Next, the commissioner reviewed ICBC’s offer to Vancouver Police, and found that using the database in this manner is not authorized under FIPPA.

“A public body can only use personal information for the original purpose it was collected, except in very limited circumstances. ICBC’s offer to use its database to check police-submitted images is clearly a different purpose,” said Denham.

The commissioner’s findings do not alter the power of police to request personal information from public bodies to assist in a specific investigation, or through the use of a subpoena, warrant or court order, as per section 33 of the act.

The part of the FIPPA law the privacy commissioner cites in support of her finding that the ICBC can't cooperate with the police without a court order actually says:

Section 33 - A public body may disclose personal information in its custody or under its control only as permitted under section 33.1, 33.2 or 33.3.

Section 33.2 A public body may disclose personal information referred to in section 33 inside Canada as follows:

Section 32.2(i) to a public body or a law enforcement agency in Canada to assist in a specific investigation

Section 32.2(i)(i) undertaken with a view to a law enforcement proceeding, or
Section 32.2(i)(ii) from which a law enforcement proceeding is likely to result;

To summarize, the law states that: A public body may disclose personal information inside Canada to a law enforcement agency in Canada to assist in a specific investigation undertaken with a view to a law enforcement proceeding, or from which a law enforcement proceeding is likely to result.

So, a public body can only use personal information for the original purpose it was collected, except in very limited circumstances; those circumstances are described in section 33 of the act which clearly permits the sharing of information with police (and, really, any other government official for nearly any reason; see for yourself), yet here is precisely where the OIPC "finds" that the ICBC is prevented from cooperating without a court order when the term "court order" is never used in either of the two acts that give the OIPC its power.

As stated earlier, the OIPC is independent from government and monitors and enforces British Columbia's Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FIPPA) and Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA).

The PIPA (Sections 52 & 53) gives the OIPC the power to issue orders which are binding unless they are appealed within thirty days.

But the OIPC's news release never asserts that the OIPC is ordering anything. The OIPC writes:

In a public report released today, Information and Privacy Commissioner Elizabeth Denham found that any use of ICBC’s facial recognition technology to identify criminal suspects requires a warrant or court order. [Emphasis mine].

Either of the bolded portions could have used the order/ordered terminology if that was what was intended by the British Columbia privacy commissioner, but they didn't.

So what exactly is going on here?

Is the OIPC ignoring its stated powers because issuing an order would lead to an appeal that the OIPC would, in the plain reading of the Act, be certain to lose?

Is the OIPC trying to take the position that if the police ask, the ICBC can co-operate, but that the ICBC can't preemptively offer help?

The OIPC's Summary of Recommendations in the document is rather telling.

1. ICBC should clearly notify customers that facial recognition technology is in use for the purposes of detecting and preventing driver’s licence fraud...
2. ICBC should immediately cease using their facial recognition database to identify persons in images provided by police, unless authorized by a subpoena, warrant or court order.
3. ICBC should establish accountability and leadership on privacy within the corporation, to ensure that privacy is taken into account in decision-making at the executive level.
4. ICBC should implement a privacy impact assessment policy, to set out when and how a privacy impact assessment is completed and reviewed. Technology projects should be reviewed at the conceptual, design AND implementation phases.
5. ICBC should develop a schedule for periodic review of its privacy policies. [Point 1 truncated, bold emphasis mine.]

If the OIPC believes that the ICBC is or was in violation of either the PIPA or FIPPA laws, doesn't it have a duty to order the ICBC to comply with the two acts and be prepared to go to court over its stance?

Perhaps another portion of the FIPPA law has more bearing in this case.

Part 2 - Division 4 states:

Information must be disclosed if in the public interest [emph. in orig.]

25 (1) Whether or not a request for access is made, the head of a public body must, without delay, disclose to the public, to an affected group of people or to an applicant, information

(a) about a risk of significant harm to the environment or to the health or safety of the public or a group of people, or
(b) the disclosure of which is, for any other reason, clearly in the public interest. [emph. mine]

The ICBC would be expected to make the argument that informing the police of its capabilities to assist them in quelling riots is not prohibited by the FIPPA law, but rather it is required by it.