More than two years after Canadian and U.S. security agencies signed an updated agreement on sharing information about suspected terrorists, officials are still weighing the program’s privacy risks.
Internal documents and comments from officials indicate there are lingering concerns about privacy and disclosure of personal information under the new version of the program known as Tuscan, short for Tipoff U.S./Canada.
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Tuscan, established in 1997, is a U.S. list of names and other basic information about known or suspected terrorists.
It is shared with Canadian border and immigration officers who compare the names of people coming to Canada against the roster.
Public Safety Canada and the U.S. Terrorism Screening Centre signed an updated Tuscan arrangement in early June 2016.
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However, Public Safety says officials are still fine-tuning procedures for use of the revised tool, and a privacy assessment was just submitted to a watchdog.
The Canadian Press
