Sunday, August 29, 2004

Article: Plan to match Canadian passport photos with terrorist watch lists in works

The Canadian Department of Public Security has been involved in a trial of facial recognition software that, they hope, will be used to match passport photos against the mugshots of known and suspected terrorists. I'll be curious to see the results of the privacy impact assessment, if it is released:

Plan to match Canadian passport photos with terrorist watch lists in works:

"OTTAWA (CP) - Federal officials plan to screen the photos of Canadian passport applicants against images of suspects on terrorist watch lists.

The Passport Office recently tested a computer program that compares a picture of a face with thousands of other mugshot-style photos and zeroes in on possible matches.

The office is seeking approval from the federal privacy commissioner to use the facial-recognition technology in processing passport applications.

The proposal has raised questions about the accuracy and potential intrusiveness of the system among those who study the effect of security measures on privacy and civil liberties. "

I did some looking around the Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Canada website and didn't find the report referred to in the article. If any readers know where to find it, please drop me a line.

No comments:

Post a Comment