Uncle Sam wants your data

[Ernst Debets]

REPLY TO: D66 at nic.surfnet.nl

We dachten dat het met het vertrek van Bush afgelopen was met dit soort
gezeur, maar onder Obama gaat het gedonder vrolijk verder, zij het nu dat ze
toch nog enigszins naar het Europese Parlement luisteren. (Dankzij onze
eigen Sophie!)

Ernst Debets/

Zaanstad

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Uncle Sam wants your data

PM under fire for new Bill. Washington would control who boards Canadian
flights over U.S.


Quebec - The Harper government has quietly presented a bill in the House of
Commons that would give U.S. officials final say over who may board aircraft
in Canada if they are to fly over the United States en route to a third
country.

"Canadian sovereignty has gone right out the window," Liberal transport
critic Joe Volpe told The Gazette in recent telephone interview. "You are
going to be subject to American law."
Bill C-42 amends Canada's Aeronautics Act to allow airlines to communicate
passenger information to "a foreign state" for flights over that country
without landing.
At present, airlines are only required to give passenger information to the
U.S. government on flights landing in the United States.
Bill C-42 would comply with the U.S. Homeland Security's Secure Flight
program, which requires that airlines submit personal information about
passengers 72 hours before a flight's departure. Secure Flight has already
been introduced for U.S. airlines, and Homeland Security wants to implement
it internationally, including with Canadian airlines, by the end of this
year.
If Bill C-42 passes, passengers leaving Montreal on a flight to Cuba or
France, for example, while flying over the U.S., would have their name,
birthdate and gender subject to screening by U.S. Homeland Security, which
involves running that information through various government databases to
determine whether there is a terrorist threat.
If you are on a no-fly list or have the same name as someone on a no-fly
list, you could be questioned, delayed or even barred from the flight.
If your name does not match, Homeland Security tells the airline you may
have a boarding pass.
Currently, Canadian airlines check names against no-fly lists provided by
the United States and Canadian governments. But the airlines decide who gets
a boarding pass.
Volpe noted that Bill C-42 does not refer specifically to the United States,
adding that "with a stroke of the pen" the government is agreeing to provide
data on Canadian passengers to any foreign government.
"They just opened the door to everybody without even so much as, 'Hello, why
are you doing this?'
"They can harass our airlines, harass our passengers, anything they want
to."
Volpe said Bill C-42 was introduced with no warning and no discussion with
the three opposition parties. Together, the opposition parties could vote
down Bill C-42.
"The government doesn't feel very comfortable about what it is doing," Volpe
said.
"It is trying to put one over on the public away from the scrutiny of the
press and the opposition."
Dennis Bevington, the New Democratic Party's transportation critic, shares
that view, noting Bill C-42 was presented at "the very last moment" before
the June 17 adjournment.
"We're doing this without understanding what the threat assessment is,"
Bevington added from Hay River, N.W.T., in his Western Arctic riding.
"There's no way this is going to get an easy ride."

Michel Guimond, the newly appointed Bloc Quebecois transport critic, said he
is still studying Bill C-42, but in the past the Bloc has joined the other
two opposition parties in expressing misgivings about the transfer of
passenger information to the U.S.
Sophie in 't Veld is a Dutch member of the European Parliament who has led
opposition in Europe to complying with ever-increasing demands by Washington
for passenger information, and the lack of privacy safeguards.
"There doesn't seem to be a limit on what they want to have," she said in a
telephone interview.
The European Parliament this year gained the power to approve international
agreements, and in 't Veld said that if the latest agreement negotiated by
the non-elected European Commission went to a vote, it would be defeated.
So to avoid disruptions to passengers and airlines, the European Parliament
has asked the Commission to renegotiate the agreement with the U.S., judging
the data protection safeguards "inadequate."
"Everything is wrong with it," said in 't Veld, who was on her way to
Washington to meet U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano.
In 't Veld said the Commission is concerned European airlines will lose
their U.S. landing rights if they do not comply. But her view is that such
agreements "are only viable between equals."
While federal Transport Minister John Baird is the one who presented Bill
C-42 on June 17, his office redirected questions to Public Security Minister
Vic Toews.
In an email, Public Security official Sophie Bedard said: "This
straightforward, technical amendment to the Aeronautics Act would also
ensure Canadians do not face any undue delays in their travel plans."
Bedard added that Ottawa will "continue to work with Canada's Privacy
Commissioner and our U.S. counterparts to ensure information is protected."
The United States has agreed to erase after seven days passenger information
"that is confirmed to not be linked with terrorism."
Initially, the U.S. also wanted passenger information for domestic Canadian
flights that crossed U.S. airspace.
Bedard said Homeland Security has agreed to exempt such flights.
Chantal Bernier, Canada's assistant privacy commissioner, said the federal
government came to her for advice, explaining "quite simply that the United
States is implementing a program, in the exercise of U.S. sovereignty over
its territory, which includes airspace."
Bernier said, "It is a fact of international law that a state's sovereignty
does extend to its airspace," but she also called on the government to seek
privacy safeguards in its agreement with the U.S. to ensure "nothing more
than is strictly necessary" be transferred to Homeland Security.
"Try pushing the envelope as far as you can on that to keep it the smallest
level of information," she advised.
"If we want to enter U.S. airspace, we have to do it under their conditions.
We also impose conditions on the entrance of our air space. Obviously, we
are not as strict."
Bernier said she is satisfied about the government's introduction of Bill
C-42, which is to be considered when the House of Commons reconvenes in
September.
"We are happy to see there is clarity in the law and a debate in the House
of Commons," she said.








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