Digital Government Minister Joyce Murray unveiled Ottawa’s new plan today for using technology to make it easier for residents to access services and public servants to do their jobs. But the government was also on the receiving end of some admonishment for its current digital approach, with MPs questioning its dealings with data platforms and the privacy commissioner slamming police use of facial recognition software. Here’s what you need to know.

Don’t do this: The RCMP broke the law by conducting more than 500 searches on New York-based Clearview AI’s photo database and using its facial-recognition technology, the privacy commissioner concluded. The federal agency didn’t properly check whether the images against which it wanted to compare its own had been taken with people’s consent, relying instead on the company’s claim that all the pictures had been taken from publicly available sources. In February, the privacy commissioner ruled that stance didn’t stand up, and that Clearview didn’t have the proper permissions for its photo gathering. (The firm has claimed Canada’s consumer privacy law doesn’t apply to it, so it can’t be breaking any rules). 

Elsewhere, opposition MPs want the government to hold off on implementing any technology that could infringe on privacy before the watchdog has given it a good look. Before rolling out anything that involves collecting personal information, departments and agencies should “ensure there are proper ethical processes in place for how that data is collected and which companies are employed,” the House of Commons privacy and ethics committee said in a new report. It cited “serious questions” about “the human rights track record of Palantir.” The Denver-headquartered data-mining firm was one of the subjects of the group’s study of pandemic-era lobbying and conflicts of interest, after The Logic first reported in April 2020 that Canadian president David MacNaughton had claimed it was working with the federal and three provincial governments on their COVID-19 response.  

Do this: Ottawa’s new digital-government strategy includes improving the purchase and management of big IT systems, by rolling out a new test-and-see procurement approach and moving more applications to the cloud. It’s also planning frontline improvements over the next two years, including converting PDF forms to web versions and building up a notification system that allows departments and agencies to send out messages via email and text. And, it’s looking to cut down on the dozens of username and password combinations that residents may need to access services, working toward the longstanding goal of a single sign-on system. 

Meanwhile, the Standards Council of Canada and Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada have picked the CIO Strategy Council to come up with national technical specs for digital credentials. The non-profit is co-chaired by Jim Balsillie, former co-CEO of Research In Motion (now BlackBerry) and acting federal CIO Marc Brouillard. One agreed-upon set of standards could speed adoption of virtual driver’s licences, educational qualifications and the like.