by: Tom Godfrey, Sun Media
First there was the bogus story of a spy transmitter in our red-poppy quarter, now Ottawa is testing - for real - a Canadian visa that emits a radio signal to track the document and those using it. About 17,000 students, visitors and refugees took part in a pilot project in which a transmitter was placed inside a visa to emit data that was received by immigration machine readers, according to documents and government officials. The visas were available during a pilot program at Canadian offices in Seattle and Hong Kong that ran from last October to April. The results are now being compiled. Immigration spokesman Karen Shadd-Evelyn said data like photographs or fingerprints are beamed by a transmitter in the visa to a machine reader as the person drives by. The technology is already in use in the U.S. to track visitors entering and exiting that country.
"The technology is not for tracking people," Shadd-Evelyn said yesterday. "The results are being tabulated and a final report will be published in the fall." But immigration lawyer Richard Kurland said the technology can be modified to track or monitor people by security officials in and outside of Canada. "This is an electronic leash to monitor people," Kurland said. The visa contains a radio frequency identification chip and associated "antenna" circuitry pasted underneath, according to a freedom of information request.
First there was the bogus story of a spy transmitter in our red-poppy quarter, now Ottawa is testing - for real - a Canadian visa that emits a radio signal to track the document and those using it. About 17,000 students, visitors and refugees took part in a pilot project in which a transmitter was placed inside a visa to emit data that was received by immigration machine readers, according to documents and government officials. The visas were available during a pilot program at Canadian offices in Seattle and Hong Kong that ran from last October to April. The results are now being compiled. Immigration spokesman Karen Shadd-Evelyn said data like photographs or fingerprints are beamed by a transmitter in the visa to a machine reader as the person drives by. The technology is already in use in the U.S. to track visitors entering and exiting that country.
"The technology is not for tracking people," Shadd-Evelyn said yesterday. "The results are being tabulated and a final report will be published in the fall." But immigration lawyer Richard Kurland said the technology can be modified to track or monitor people by security officials in and outside of Canada. "This is an electronic leash to monitor people," Kurland said. The visa contains a radio frequency identification chip and associated "antenna" circuitry pasted underneath, according to a freedom of information request.
No comments:
Post a Comment