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New EDL in Manitoba, new controversy in Quebec

According to an exclusive spread in La Press this month, Quebec’s “enhanced” driver’s licences can be scanned from 15 metres away and cloned very easily. Ontario’s privacy commissioner is also warning this week that the province’s new ID cards designed for people who want to cross into the United States without a passport after June 1 are too insecure and open the door to new forms of identity theft and surveillance.

As reported in La Press: “Il est très facile de recopier le numéro dans une autre puce, explique Marek Roy de la firme Sekcore, spécialisée en sécurité informatique. Avec quelques jours de calcul, l’ordinateur sera aussi capable de découvrir les mots de passe pour modifier ou désactiver le numéro du permis.»

No wonder the Prime Minister and Ontario’s Transport Minister suggest a passport is probably the best option. But don’t you think it’s a little irresponsible for Canadian officials to be putting insecure and useless new ID documents onto the market, just for the fun of it?

Manitoba announced today it would be offering EDLs later this year, and announced a new “non-enhanced” ID card will be available tomorrow.