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editorial

(AP Photo/Tony Avelar, file)Tony Avelar/The Associated Press

It may be hard to believe, but the innocent little gift card or prepaid debit card you found in your stocking on Christmas morning may be a useful tool for criminals and terrorists. Ottawa thinks this could be the case, and so it is planning on releasing new draft rules covering their use in the next few months.

It was a Senate committee that first noted in 2011 that criminals who want to launder money could do so by purchasing gift cards with cash, using the cards to buy electronics and other sought-after items, and then reselling the goods. They could also launder and transport money using prepaid debit cards, which can be purchased anonymously and then used in different countries to get money out of an ATM.

It would be a patient criminal indeed that laundered his drug proceeds by purchasing multiple gift cards and then going through the hassle of buying goods and reselling them. Prepaid debit cards pose more of a legitimate risk. They are not considered monetary instruments, which means they can't be seized at the border. The RCMP and other police departments, as well as money-laundering experts, have said they are worried that terrorists could use them to fund operations in Canada and elsewhere.

The problem is that so far there is little in the way of a smoking gun that proves bad guys are using cards for illegal purposes. It could happen, but to what degree is it really going on? Ottawa is working mostly on a hunch as it prepares its new rules, which will likely involve collecting data on everyone who buys gift cards and prepaid debit cards.

That's a big leap.We applaud the precautionary nature of Ottawa's plan, but any kind of privacy invasion should require a higher justification than worries of a possible crime.

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