OTTAWA-Several media sources are reporting that U.S. border officials are planning to demand cellphone and social media passwords from Canadians crossing into that country. At least one Canadian official as well as some American groups have called the proposal a breach of privacy.

According to Global TV, the House of Commons public safety committee, privacy commissioner Daniel Therrien described the proposed measures as “intrusive.”

The Atlantic magazine reported in February, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly suggested at a hearing that American officials could ask people entering the U.S. about the Internet sites they visit as well as passwords to help assess their online activities.  “If they don’t want to give us that information,” Kelly said, “then they don’t come.”  

A group of American human-rights organizations as well as some experts in security and the law expressed “deep concern” at the idea. And April Doss, a former top National Security Agency lawyer, suggested to the online news site ZDNet  that the proposal would almost certainly be unlawful.