Canada's airport security check violates privacy

Canada's airport security and police authorities have misconduct in body check and personal information management that are in violation of privacy rights of passengers and citizens, the country's privacy watchdog said in its annual report tabled to the Parliament on Thursday. In an audit, Federal Privacy Commissioner Jennifer Stoddart said Canadian Air Transport Security Authority (CATSA) has reached beyond its mandate by filing reports on legal activities that had nothing to do with aviation security. For example, CATSA collected information about air passengers who were carrying large sums of cash on domestic flights. She said this presents no threat to safe flight, but "this presents a risk to privacy by making available for use and disclosure information that should not have been obtained." The audit also found that documents containing sensitive personal information were left on open shelves and in plain view in a room where passengers may be taken for security checks. Further, the audit found that CATSA officials screen full-body scans in some rooms where a cell phone and a closed-circuit TV camera are discovered even though these devices are forbidden under the agency's operating procedures. "Fortunately, these irregularities were uncommon," said Stoddart, adding that she was pleased the CATSA had moved quickly to correct the problems. In another audit, Stoddart found that the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), the federal police, share widely its operational databases with other police forces, government institutions and organizations. The RCMP is also blamed for continuing to hold the information about offences for which a pardon had been granted, or that resulted in a wrongful conviction. Canada's Privacy Act, which governs the information-handling practices of federal government departments and agencies, requires that organizations retain personal information no longer than absolutely necessary. Admitting that in the decade since the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the United States, "safety in the skies has come at a growing cost to privacy," Stoddart noted that federal institutions are obliged to handle information with "an uncompromising level of care -- not some of the time, or even most of the time, but all of the time." "In addition to providing physical security, the state also has an obligation to treat individuals with respect -- to preserve their dignity and to safeguard their personal information," she added.