Commissioner warns passport office not to include biometric info on radio chips

By ALTHIA RAJ, NATIONAL BUREAU

The federal privacy watchdog has rejected Passport Canada’s plan to embed fingerprints and iris scans in electronic passports.

In a review of the project, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner told the passport office not to include new biometric information on a radio-frequency chip encoded in e-passports.

“The more information you collect, the more information you put at risk,” said assistant privacy commissioner Chantal Bernier.

She said Passport Canada “backed away” from putting more data on the chip than they currently collect.

DIGITIZED PICTURE

E-passports will feature a digitized picture of the passport holder as well as their name, date of birth, location of birth and passport number, said Passport Canada spokesman Jean-Sebastien Roy.

A national rollout of the e-passport is expected to begin in 2011.

“(They provide) greater protection against fraudulent misuse and tampering, and reduce the risk of identity fraud,” Roy said.

The privacy commissioner’s review raised concerns about whether the chip is “adequately protected against unauthorized interception,” such as skimming and eavesdropping. The watchdog noted an e-passport hacking case in the United Kingdom.

“If the data can be readily copied and replicated, electronic passports may do more to facilitate identity theft than to prevent it,” said Jason Gratl of the B.C. Civil Liberties Association.

The passport office said its chip can only be read 10 cm away.

‘HIGH RISKS’

David Harris, former chief of strategic planning for the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), said there are “high risks” associated with electronic databases, but comprehensive information such as biometrics in passports are needed to guard against terrorist threats.

“We’ve got to be all the more careful in doing what might prove to be unavoidable,” he said.

Canadian e-passports were developed after the International Civil Aviation Organization adopted new requirements for an embedded chip in 2005.

Privacy advocates say the chip raises additional concerns, such as the potential to build databases that track travellers across national boundaries.

“It substantially increases the powers of the state to survey individuals,” said University of Toronto professor Andrew Clement. Databases are often created with one goal and then used for other purposes, he said.

Richard Rosenberg of the Freedom of Information and Privacy Association said he is concerned Canadians won’t be able to check the accuracy of the information on the chip and risk being unfairly blacklisted like many travellers on the no-fly list.

The passport office said it has no plans to collect or use the information in other ways and promised to investigate options to allow individuals to access the data on their chip.

ALTHIA.RAJ@SUNMEDIA.CA

Posted by Irene – Loss of Privacy

October  1, 2009

An expansion is currently underway that will develop the FBI’s current fingerprint collection database into a new biometrics system that includes DNA, facial recognition, palm prints and voice scans.

The plan is to share this data with authorized U.S. and international investigative partners, as the agency does today.

The FBI’s current IAFIS database remains a workhorse; it processes about 200,000 daily transactions from its 370 million 10-fingerprint records, and it just crossed the 250 million transaction mark

The next-generation FBI database system is under design by Lockheed Martin, with MorphoTrak and others, and is expected to include DNA, iris scans, advanced 3-D facial imaging and voice scans among its multi-modal biometrics. Lower turnaround times for delivering information over wide-area networks are planned. The goal is to drop from a roughly two-hour response time for IAFIS urgent requests to less than 10 minutes.

The FBI is already moving into new areas, including setting up a palm-print repository and searchable databases for scars, marks and tattoos that it will be collecting.

The FBI, under the DNA Fingerprint Act of 2005, is now allowed to collect reference-sample DNA material for biometrics analysis purposes at the time of booking, Grever said. “DNA has become a powerful and timely tool,” said Grever, adding there are no “privacy or civil liberties issues beyond those associated with fingerprints.”

Given that DNA can be fabricated, how accurate is this new biometric database going to be?  Given that they’re tracking everything else about you, it won’t be long before whatever makes you “you” is in a database somewhere.

Multi-modal biometrics targeted for new system

By Ellen Messmer Framingham – Computerworld | Thursday, 24 September, 2009

The Federal Bureau of Investigation is expanding beyond its traditional fingerprint-focused collection practices to develop a newbiometrics system that will include DNA records, 3-D facial imaging, palm prints and voice scans, blended to create what’s known as “multi-modal biometrics”.
“The FBI today is announcing a rapid DNA initiative,” said Louis Grever, executive assistant director of the FBI’s science and technology branch, during his keynote presentation at the Biometric Consortium Conference in Tampa.

The FBI plans to begin migrating from its IAFIS database, established in the mid-1990s to hold its vast fingerprint data, to a next-generation system that’s expected to be in prototype early next year. This multi-modal NGI biometrics database system will hold DNA records and more.

Grever said that fingerprints and DNA appear to be the most mature and searchable biometrics possibilities, but the FBI is working to include iris-scan records among newer biometrics technologies to identify criminals and terrorists. The plan is to share this data with authorised US and international investigative partners, as the agency does today.

The FBI’s current IAFIS database remains a workhouse; it processes about 200,000 daily transactions from its 370 million 10-fingerprint records, and it just crossed the 250 million transaction mark.

The next-generation FBI database system is under design by MorphoTrak and is expected to include DNA, iris scans, advanced 3-D facial imaging and voice scans among its multi-modal biometrics. Lower turnaround times for delivering information over wide-area networks are planned. The goal is to drop from a roughly two-hour response time for IAFIS urgent requests to less than 10 minutes.

But FBI officials acknowledged there’s still a lot of research and development that needs to be done to reach its NGI goals. One goal is to develop a rapid DNA analysis method that would provide DNA analysis in less than an hour, as opposed to several hours or even days. The FBI is cosponsoring research with the Department of Defense, which has a similar goal.

Kevin Reid, section chief for the biometrics service section at the FBI, said the FBI also wants to establish a service-oriented architecture for NGI, but it’s not clear when this would be in place to provide services related to biometrics information-sharing.

The FBI is already moving into new areas, including setting up apalm-print repository and searchable databases for scars, marks and tattoos that it will be collecting.

The FBI, under the DNA Fingerprint Act of 2005, is now allowed to collect reference-sample DNA material for biometrics analysis purposes at the time of booking, Grever said. “DNA has become a powerful and timely tool,” said Grever, adding there are no “privacy or civil liberties issues beyond those associated with fingerprints.”

Published: 6:44PM Monday September 21, 2009
Source: ONE News

New technology designed to prevent identity fraud is sparking “big brother”-like concerns.
Legislation being debated in parliament will allow Immigration New Zealand to use biometric checking to stop those who are not who they claim they are from crossing borders illegally.
But there are fears these new powers will be extended to other arms of the state.

ONE NewsAn example of biometric testing

The shape of your face, the width of your nose, iris patterns, fingerprints, the way you walk, even the way you type are unique characteristics.
It is information governments around the world are keen to collect, says Michael Bott from the Council for Civil Liberties.
“The more information the state has about you, the more they can track your movements and control you. Knowledge is power,” he says.
From the end of 2009, New Zealanders and Australians with electronic passports will have the option of using SmartGate to get through customs quickly. Your image is checked against the biometric identity data chip in your e-passport.
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“This technology will actually pinpoint multiple points on cheekbones, nose and eye and if the distance is fractionally out it will go ‘this is not the person’,” says Customs Minister Maurice Williamson.
Under new immigration legislation making its way through parliament on Tuesday, anyone arriving in New Zealand will be required to provide biometric data.
Immigration New Zealand says biometrics could have prevented a man allegedly linked to the September 11 attackers from crossing the border. He spent four months in New Zealand before being deported.
“We, along with every other country, have been the victim of identity fraud and identity crime,” says Immigration Identity Programme Manager Aaron Baker .
ONE News has been told New Zealand has joined Canada, Britain, Australia and the United States to work more closely on managing entry visas.
Three of those countries have agreed to share biometric information. New Zealand has not yet, but is likely to do so.
Privacy concerns
A report obtained by ONE News has highlighted some of the potential threats to privacy if biometric information is shared too widely.
The new legislation allows immigration to share data with other departments if a migrant or visitor applies for a taxpayer funded service like hospital treatment.
Privacy Commissioner Marie Schroff would like to see more details around how there will be protections around that information.
There are also concerns a law that allows one government agency to collect biometric data will allow others to follow.
Overseas, the technology is already used to check the identities of drivers, prison visitors and welfare beneficiaries.
Biometric technology is becoming more sophisticated. However, there are genuine fears that the rights of citizens to privacy will be left behind as technology advances.