Transport committee  Yes.

Transport committee  If I might comment on that, there is a great interest from the airline companies in using the data for commercial and marketing and data mining purposes. That was made very clear to me a couple of years ago when I was at an International Civil Aviation Organization seminar in Montreal on this question.

Transport committee  I don't think, if I were in your place as part of your House, or if I were a Canadian traveller, that I'd want any of these data transferred to the U.S. unless and until the U.S. is party to a binding treaty or makes substantial changes to its laws. I think it is quite clear that the secure flight program is in violation of U.S. treaty obligations under article 12 of the ICCPR and should be completely withdrawn.

Transport committee  Yes, that's right. The very limited and censored dossiers that we have been able to obtain for U.S. citizens contain complete PNRs going back years, even when there is absolutely no indication whatsoever that any threat was found, although of course the threat assessments and profiles themselves have, in all cases, been kept secret from the people against whom they're being used.

Transport committee  I think that's true. Given the way data flows and the location of the data, the U.S. government has the ability to access the data. They're going to continue to access these data regardless of what you do, unless you take rather concrete action to prevent the data being transferred to the U.S. in the first place.

Transport committee  U.S. law says nothing. They can do anything they want.

Transport committee  That's correct. There is no general privacy law affecting the commercial sector, travel agencies, or airline reservations systems in the U.S. They can use the data for any purpose. They can sell it. They can share it around the world. They don't have to tell you what they're doing and they don't have to get any permission.

Transport committee  While it's tempting to say that this is simply a matter within U.S. sovereignty, as I alluded to earlier, even within the realm of its sovereignty, the U.S. is a party to the ICCPR. While that treaty cannot be invoked by private citizens in U.S. courts, I think it is entirely appropriate and proper for other parties to that treaty, such as Canada, to raise questions with the United States as to whether what is being demanded by the U.S. is consistent with the quite detailed standards that have been adopted by the UN Human Rights Committee for measures that implicate the right to freedom of movement guaranteed by article 12 of the ICCPR.

Transport committee  Yes, I have.

Transport committee  There is no legal constraint, once that data reaches the U.S., on what other agencies within the government, what other foreign governments in third countries, or what commercial entities it could be shared with. Perhaps I might bring in a perspective. I've been following this debate, and it is not happening only in Canada.

Transport committee  Yes, I would definitely concur in that. I think one of the advantages to treaty negotiations is that a binding treaty would have to be ratified by the U.S. Senate. The unfortunate fact is that because these matters have been undertaken extrajudicially by the Department of Homeland Security, we have never, even as U.S. citizens and voters here, had the opportunity to be heard or to see a Congressional vote on these issues.

Transport committee  I'd like to speak to that. Unfortunately, API data include the record locator for the PNR, and as long as the U.S. government gets the record locator, they can go to the CRS or GDS and retrieve the entirety of the PNR in secret, without the airline even knowing and without any recourse.

Transport committee  Even without it, it requires only a trivial amount of extra computer processor time to retrieve the PNR from the reservation system through a name and flight number or other information. I don't think it's possible to separate it out. As long as the CRS is in the U.S., the data already reside in the US.

Transport committee  I am not a lawyer and I'm not a Canadian, but I am very concerned about whether Canadians and the Privacy Commissioner of Canada are aware of this. I think there is deep need for serious investigation of potential PIPEDA violations in this routine industry practice.

Transport committee  Good morning and thank you. Please excuse me, my French is very limited. I'm sorry I can't be with you in Ottawa, but I'm very grateful for the opportunity to contribute a U.S. perspective to the deliberation in this House. I'm here on behalf of the Liberty Coalition, which coordinates public policy activities on civil liberties and basic rights in conjunction with more than 80 partner organizations from across the political spectrum.