Privacy commissioner not ‘ok’ with the plan to share fingerprint details

The privacy commissioner of Canada has expressed concern yesterday over the new plan by the government to share information on fingerprints of immigrants with Australia and Britain with the purpose of fighting immigration fraud. The commissioner also called asylum seekers a group of vulnerable people.

The privacy commissioner of Canada has expressed concern yesterday over the new plan by the government to share information on fingerprints of immigrants with Australia and Britain with the purpose of fighting immigration fraud. The commissioner also called asylum seekers a group of vulnerable people.

The agreement among the three countries was announced with very little fanfare, and all the three countries assured that there won’t be violation of anyone’s privacy and that there won’t be a creation of any database for the prints.

A group of lawyers in Australia also raised concerns about the privacy over the new plan, which New Zealand and the United States are also expected to get into.

The offices of Canada’s Immigration Minister Jason Kenney and Public Safety Minister Peter Van Loan announced the plan and hailed it as a landmark initiative which would ensure an improvement in the country’s ability to identify foreign citizens who are trying to get into Canada hiding their past from officials.

In spite of the fact that legislative authority of Immigration was used to give a go ahead to the plan, spokeswoman of privacy commissioner, Anne-Marie Hayden, said that they have some concerns along some questions, and also some recommendations to offer.

One question which it wishes to ask is the need to go on with the high-value data-sharing. Hayden said in an email that such information which is highly sensitive should be protected with a great level of security.