XPost: bc.politics, van.general, vic.general   
   From: 40%®Çonned@cda.ca   
      
   ICBC sharing of biometric database under investigation   
      
   CBC News  Jul 22, 2011   
      
   B.C.'s privacy commissioner has launched an investigation into ICBC's offer to   
   use its facial   
   recognition technology to help police identify suspects in the Stanley Cup   
   riot.   
      
   Commissioner Elizabeth Denham says she will look at how ICBC uses and shares   
   its database, which   
   contains digitally encoded images of every person in the province who has a   
   driver's licence.   
      
   "There is a fine balance to be struck in weighing a citizen's privacy   
   interests and the use of   
   personal information for law enforcement," said Denham in a statement issued   
   on Friday morning.   
      
   Last month Denham approved the use of the data as long as ICBC did not   
   disclose any personal   
   information until police produce a court order.   
      
   Denham said the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act prohibits   
   one government   
   agency from collecting information, such as a driver's licence, and using it   
   for another   
   purpose. However a provision in the law allows information to be disclosed to   
   police.   
      
   But on Friday the privacy commissioner said she is still investigating to make   
   sure ICBC   
   complies with provincial privacy laws. ICBC has committed to co-operate fully   
   with the   
   Commissioner's investigation, she said.   
      
   B.C. Civil Liberties Association policy director Michael Vonn said she   
   welcomed the   
   investigation.   
      
   ICBC's database has already been used to find fraudsters and identity thieves.   
   The facial   
   recognition technology uses computers to take biometric measurements, such as   
   the distance   
   between a person's eyes, nose, cheekbones and jaw, to create a digital profile   
   that is used to   
   identify the person from another photograph or video image.   
      
   Earlier this week police said they were still sorting through thousands of   
   images from the riot   
   which erupted following the   
   final game of the Stanley Cup Final in Vancouver in June.   
      
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