Canadian border authorities will launch an app this fall that will help them track people who have been ordered to leave the country. The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) will rely on facial biometrics to confirm the person’s identity and use the app to record their location.
The app, named ReportIn, was created to “allow foreign nationals and permanent residents subject to immigration enforcement conditions to report without coming in person to a CBSA office,” the agency’s spokesperson told The Canadian Press.
The solution has been in the works since 2021. According to the algorithmic impact assessment for the project, the voice biometric technology that the CBSA has used was being phased out due to failures and replaced by the ReportIn app.
In April, the CBSA published a tender for a smartphone-based face biometrics solution to verify the identity of travelers crossing its borders. The contract was worth anywhere from CA$5 million (US$3.6 million) to CA$25 million ($18.2 million). Although the app will be voluntary, questions are being raised about its algorithms, user consent model and the danger of bias.
The CBSA wants to keep the face biometrics algorithm used a trade secret. Brenda McPhail, the director of executive education in McMaster University’s public policy in digital society program (currently on leave from the Canadian Civil Liberties Association), notes that this may leave people without the right to understand how decisions are made. The app will rely on Amazon Web Services (AWS), prompting questions on whether Amazon Rekognition will be used in the app.
