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| Ottawa creates digital passport photo database Searchable database to help in fraud investigations, Ottawa says Toronto Star 11/20/02 Original Link: http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article &cid=1035774608946&call_pageid=968332188492&col=968705899037 The federal government has created a computer database to hold the digitized facial images of the 10 million Canadians who have passports. The photo bank is part of a yet-to-be announced pilot project to use biometric facial recognition for passport verification, the Hamilton Spectator reported today. The searchable database — with the electronic photo of every man, woman and child whose face appears in a passport file — will help Ottawa stop fraud. For the first time, federal officials will be able to scan photos quickly to check whether an image is attached to more than one name. Biometric industry officials say the database will also allow faces photographed for passports to be checked against terrorism watch lists, police wanted files and other databases. But a federal spokesperson said the photo bank is intended primarily to fight fraud. "We only want to eliminate imposters," said Marina Moraitis of the Passport Office in Ottawa. "By that, we mean people who apply for more than one passport under different names." Moraitis acknowledged that "there is potential for sharing databases," but said the current pilot project focuses on passport verification only. The Passport Office is currently scanning existing hard-copy photos into the database as digital files. Starting next spring, it will require new applicants to submit digital photographs. Biometric industry representatives say the project is part of Ottawa's scramble to add biometrics to Canadian identity documents to satisfy the U.S. A new American security law requires all friendly nations, including Canada, to add some form of biometric — a facial image, a fingerprint, or the pattern of the iris in the eye — by the fall of 2003. "The Americans really feel they want as much security as possible and that's clearly driving us as a country," said Ian Drummond, president of Imagis Technologies Inc., a biometric systems company in Vancouver. "The U.S. is taking a very hard line and we're having to respond." Last week, Immigration Minister Denis Coderre asked Canadians to ``debate" the idea of a new national identity card encoded with a unique, identifying biometric. Coderre said a national ID document might be similar to the Maple Leaf Card issued to landed immigrants in Canada. That program was launched last June. Those cards display a laser-engraved photo and signature, name, nationality, birth date, gender, eye colour, height, landing place and immigrant category, as well as an ID number. Coderre has also proposed adding biometric identifiers to the Maple Leaf cards to make it harder for would-be terrorists to obtain a fraudulent version or steal someone's identity. Moraitis said it is not yet known whether facial recognition will eventually be used on all Canadian passports. "No decision has been made as to whether we will include biometrics but it has nothing to do with the U.S. requirements," she said. Further details about the pilot project were not available from the passport office. ------------------------------- PRISON PLANET.com |