News - Saturday, April 19, 2008 15:51 - 0 Comments

Canada Differs on US Plan to Send PRIVATE Data Around Web

In this day and age when government can’t be trusted with a set of blueprints for the new world trade center, a Canadian government official, (letter below), is taking a stand against U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff plan to collect and share private personal data with other countries around the world.

Chertoff was in Canada discussing the Bush administration’s push for stricter identity systems including the so-called “Server in the Sky” program to share fingerprint databases among the U.S., Canada, the U.K., and Australia.

When asked about concerns some critics are raising over the privacy aspects of sharing that kind of data, among four countries, Chertoff replied, “Well, first of all, a fingerprint is hardly personal data because you leave it on glasses and silverware and articles all over the world, they’re like footprints. They’re not particularly private.”

But then Chertoff praises the idea of taking DNA samples from US citizens prior to a conviction, and from foreign citizens detained at the border for further scrutiny. They can’t be used for categorizing or for genetic profiling of people it is said.

Jennifer Stoddart, the Canadian official in charge of privacy issues letter:

Letter to the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Canada
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