CAPAPA supports Canadian’s Right to Know “Privacy IS Your Business”(Calgary, Alberta)August 26, 2007 – CAPAPA (Canadian Association of Professional Access and Privacy Administrators) is pleased to support international Privacy Awareness Week, August 26th to September 1st, 2007. Privacy Awareness Week, a campaign first initiated by Privacy Victoria (Australia) in 2001, has for the first time gone international.
As Canada’s leading association serving privacy and access professionals, CAPAPA is spearheading the campaign to promote privacy awareness in Canada. “Identity theft and information security breaches are happening more often than ever,” says CAPAPA National Chair Sharon Polsky. “To reverse that trend, Canadians must recognize the importance of protecting their personal information — at home, in the workplace, and in the consumer marketplace.”
Privacy Awareness Week provides an opportunity for individuals to raise questions about privacy legislation and its impact on how individuals conduct their business and personal lives. Privacy Awareness Week spotlights the need for Canadians to recognize their rights and obligations to maintain the privacy of their personal information. The theme for Privacy Awareness Week 2007 is ‘Privacy is your business'.
Know your Rights and Obligations
Canadian organizations, governments, and government agencies are bound by a variety of wide-reaching privacy laws. Ms. Polsky notes that, “As consumers, each of us is responsible to understand what our rights and responsibilities are under those laws.”
CAPAPA is a key source for helping Canadians recognize their privacy rights and responsibilities, and is the privacy advocate’s source for issues such as the passenger name record exchange, emerging RFID CHIP technology, and CAPAPA's Submission to the Senate on proposed changes to Canada’s Election Act.
More information on these and other Canadian privacy issues is at http://www.capapa.org./ For more information on how you can promote Privacy Awareness Week 2007, visit http://www.capapa.org/ or contact CAPAPA at: info@capapa.org.
One of two initiatives in Congress, which may never see the light of day, would replace the flimsy social security card with a biometric ID that employers would be required to verify before employing anybody.
National ID: Biometrics Pinned to Social Security CardsThe Social Security card faces its first major upgrade in 70 years under two immigration-reform proposals slated for debate this week that would add biometric information to the card and finally complete its slow metamorphosis into a national ID.
The leading immigration proposal with traction in Congress would force employers to accept only a very limited range of approved documents as proof of work eligibility, including a driver's license that meets new federal Real ID standards, a high-tech temporary work visa or a U.S. passport with an RFID chip. A fourth option is the notional tamper-proof biometric Social Security card, which would replace the text-only design that's been issued to Americans almost without change for more than 70 years.
A second proposal under consideration would add high-tech features to the Social Security card allowing employers to scan it with specially equipped laptop computers. Under that proposal, called the "Bonner Plan," the revamped Social Security card would be the only legal form of identification for employment purposes.
Neither bill specifies what the biometric would be, but it could range from a simple digital photo to a fingerprint or even an iris scan. The proposals would seem to require major changes to how Social Security cards are issued: Currently, new and replacement cards are sent in the mail. And parents typically apply for their children before they're old enough to give a decent fingerprint.
There are also logistical problems to overcome before forcing all of the nation's employers to verify a biometric card -- given the nation has millions of employers, many of whom may not have computer equipment at all....
Hitachi has just unveiled a new generation of tiny RFID chips that are .15 mm X .15 mm. They're so small, they're nicknamed "dust".
The United States Department of Defence is requiring suppliers of some commodities to use passive RFID chips to identify and inventory supplies. From Cryptome: DoD Final Rule on RFID Spy Chips.
Privacy Commissioners come out against national (RF)ID cards
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The Federal, Provincial and Territorial Privacy Commissioners came out yesterday against proposed RFID embedded super drivers licenses designed to facilitate border crossings:
Nova Scotia News - TheChronicleHerald.caKeep drivers' information in Canada — officials
Privacy commissioners slam plan to produce national identity cards
By DIRK MEISSNER
The Canadian Press
Wed. Feb 6 - 6:15 AM
VICTORIA — Personal information about Canadian drivers must stay in the country as plans are developed to introduce high-tech driver’s licences in Canada that will be accepted as identification at United States border crossings, Canada’s privacy commissioners said Tuesday.
The commissioners issued a joint statement that called on Ottawa and provincial and territorial governments participating in the so-called enhanced driver’s licence programs to ensure the personal information of participating drivers stays in Canada.
The commissioners also said they continue to voice their opposition to any plans to introduce national identity cards and systems.
British Columbia and the federal government reached an agreement last month to start issuing the enhanced driver’s licences on a trial basis. Ontario is examining a similar licensing program.
The enhanced licences, equipped with radio frequency chips, allow border officials to access personal identity information. They can be used as an alternative to a Canadian passport.
Jennifer Stoddart, Canada’s privacy commissioner, said her office is monitoring the progress of the enhanced driver’s licence program and recently received a government privacy-impact analysis. She said her office is not yet ready to give the green light to the licence program.
"Maybe our positions are more nuanced than that when we say with all these progressive and incremental steps towards measures that increasingly limit Canadians’ privacy, this is what you should be looking for," Stoddart said.
"These are the steps you need to follow," she said. "Have you chosen the least privacy-invasive route?"
David Loukidelis, B.C.’s privacy commissioner, said Canadians need to be reminded that a Canadian passport is a well-established, highly secure identification document.
"These enhanced driver’s licences or EDL programs do raise concerns about security and privacy of personal information on a number of fronts," Loukidelis said.
There are concerns that the radio frequency technology on the chips embedded into the licences could be skimmed by others or used to track individuals, he said.
The commissioners are concerned about the transfer across borders of databases containing personal information about Canadians, Loukidelis said.
"We don’t do that now with passport databases and we don’t see why we would need to do anything differently when it comes to enhanced driver’s licences."
The B.C. government has received 800 volunteers for the enhanced driver’s licence program within the first two days of the pilot project.
John van Dongen, Intergovernmental Affairs Minister, said 500 licences will be issued in British Columbia.
He said the information contained in the licences provides border officials with proof of citizenship, a photograph to confirm identity and status to legally cross the border.
"They do not access medical records," he said. "They do not access driver’s records. They do not access fines, tickets, penalties. They do not access accident history. None of that information is of any interest to the border agencies in either country."
The Privacy Commissioners of the provinces, territories and Canada are planning to speak out about RFID drivers licenses as part of their semi-annual get-together, being held in Victoria this week. This has been precipitated by BC's recent announcement to introduce a new RFID embedded license to facilitate border crossings. See: Code-broadcasting chips to be embedded in B.C. driver's licenses.
A company has developed an RFID tattoo, that has all the benefits of RFID implantation, but without the messy chip. The chip is replaced by a tattoo. The company is touting its benefits in traceability of the meat supply, but is also suggesting that it may be useful in soldiers:
Industrial Control Designline RFID Ink... The ink also could be used to track and rescue soldiers, Pydynowski said.
"It could help identify friends or foes, prevent friendly fire, and help save soldiers' lives," he said. "It's a very scary proposition when you're dealing with humans, but with military personnel, we're talking about saving soldiers' lives and it may be something worthwhile."
I can't imagine anything more dangerous than tagging all soliders with a tracking device that may be hacked by the other side. Instead of saving lives, it may result in wholesale destruction. I wonder how long it would be before we saw RFID activated IEDs? Not long, I expect.
Thanks to Schneier for the link.
If you have been run out of Wisconsin and were thinking you'd while away the day wandering through Colorado, implanting RFID chips in unsuspecting citizens, think again. Colorado has joined the aforementioned cheesy state to make it a misdemeanor to require chipping of individuals. See: Rocky Mountain News - Bill would nip chips in humans.
There are still a few states left that haven't abridged the right to chip.
Thanks to Objective Justice for the link.
Engadget featured an interesting product this week that you can put in your wallet or attach to your cell phone to supposedly thwart would-be skimmers from gaining access to the data on contactless (read: RFID) cards. See: Elecom intros skim prevention kit for wallet, cellphone - Engadget.
California outlaws the forced subdermal RFID tagging of humans
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California has led the way in privacy legislation, much of which has largely been followed by other states. Will they follow with legislation similar to this to solve a problem that is more theoretical than real?
California outlaws the forced subdermal RFID tagging of humans:"Worrying that your employer will force you to stick a small chip beneath your skin ranks low on the list of employee concerns in most parts of the country, but that didn't stop the state of California from passing a bill last week to ban such forced tagging of humans. The state senator who sponsored the bill called forced RFID tagging the 'the ultimate invasion of privacy,' and his bill is now on its way to the governor's desk for his signature. ..."
New US passport cards for North American travel can be read at a distance
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Over the holidays, the US government published information about a new passport card to facilitate travel by Americans in North America. One "feature" is causing a lot of concern: the technology (presumably RFID) built into the card means they can be read over a distance of up to eight metres. The cards will be issued with protective sleeves for those who want to use them, but this doesn't assuage privacy advocates who think the technology is inherently flawed. See: globeandmail.com: U.S. 'vicinity-read' cards assailed by privacy experts.