The federal government is presently seeking input from the public on their "Open Government" initative. This consultation covers open data, open information, and open dialogue. The comments from the public will help the government define a new strategy to improve these important facets of an open and transparent government. Today is the last day to submit comments; thus, if you have not already done so, we strongly encourage you to participate in this consultation now. You can simply step through the government's question-by-question online form at
open.gc.ca.
You can view CIPPIC's own suggestions for the government
here. We encourage the government to:
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release all data on the data.gc.ca portal under a Creative Commons license, or place it into the public domain;
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mandate that each government department immediately releases at least several high-value datasets;
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create a searchable full-text database of all responses to access to information requests;
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move towards a practice of releasing all public sector data and information as the default policy (and holding back information only where there is a legitimate security of privacy risk); and
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place all released government documents, reports and other information in a centralized repository and under an open license.
Last week, at climate action talks in Durban, Environment Minister Peter Kent complained of a "lack of commitment" on the part of other countries. However, a new Ecojustice report puts Canada's own commitment into serious question with respect to environmental law enforcement.
Most disconcerting to us at CIPPIC, the author of the report, Will Amos, describes the available compliance information on environmental protection laws as a "hodge podge of incomplete data". Many of the key findings in the report point to a critical failure of the government to comply with principles of open government and open data . In fact, even though the Canadian federal government emphasized a commitment to open government in September and agreed to join the Open Government Partnership (which it has not yet done), many of the problems to which EcoJostice points directly relate to non-compliance with this partnership's Open Government Declaration (which Canada still has not yet signed)...
Municipalities create and own a valuable set of data. This data ranges from bike lane maps to trash collection schedules to city financial statements. Over the past few years, many Canadian municipalities have setup “open data portals” to release this data to the public. This increases the effective use of the data by allowing citizens to retrieve, view, and re-use city information.
All city open data portals require users to agree to the terms of a license. Unfortunately, many of these licenses fall short of making the data truly "open" and reusable. This report focuses on one problematic restriction: the “share-alike” obligation. Although share-alike can serve a useful purpose in some contexts, it does not fit well with municipal open data portals. Read the full report here.
The Canadian Software Innovation Alliance has released a copyright White Paper and open letter to Canada's Ministers responsible for copyright policy calling for balanced copyright laws that support, and do not undermine, the open source business model. The CSIA's position is indicative of a growing consensus among business groups, creator groups and consumer advocates that the course of Canadian copyright policy must steer away from the American Digital Millennium Copyright model.
A brief "how-to" on redistributing data from one or more open data portals.
An analysis of the “share-alike” obligation and how, although it can serve a useful purpose in some contexts, it does not fit well with the objectives of municipal open data portals.
A comparison of the risk across three licenses that cities may use for open data purposes: the City of Ottawa’s “Terms of Use” (the “City license”); the Open Data Commons Attribution License (the “ODC-BY license”); and the Open Data Commons Public Domain Dedication and Licence (the “ODC-PDDL license”).
CIPPIC critically examines the Ottawa Open Data License with a view to recommending options for improving the ability of the license to meet the needs of the user community who will benefit from the license.
The term Trusted Computing refers to a computer hardware and software design paradigm pioneered by the Trusted Computing Group that aims to make personal computers more secure. The technology ensures that a computer only runs trusted software, and only communicates to other computers that are also running trusted software. Trusted Computing has the potential to increase computer security, but is also controversial because it transfers some control of a computer away from the user to a “trusted” third party.
The basic idea behind open source is very simple. When programmers can read, redistribute, and modify the source code for a piece of software, the software evolves. People improve it; people adapt it; people fix bugs. It has the potential to move at speeds that put proprietary software development to shame.
