The ongoing investigations, which are prompted by complaints from requesters, comes as the federal minister who oversees the access-to-information regime suggested some data couldn’t be released in easy-to-read formats, such as spreadsheets, over fears people may post “corrupt” information.
In an interview with the Canadian Press, Treasury Board President Tony Clement couldn’t identify any incident where government information had been falsified. Neither could information commissioner Suzanne Legault’s office.
“We are not aware of any incidents where datasets were manipulated in order to falsify data,” said Legault spokeswoman Natalie Hall.
“However, we do have a few ongoing cases where the allegations are that the government is not releasing information in a requested format, but these cases are not yet completed. Hence, we cannot comment on them.”
The federal access-to-information law allows any requester to ask for information in digital formats, such as spreadsheets. Some departments have been more reluctant than others to meet those requests. That has meant extra time for researchers or journalists making the request to transfer data into easy-to-handle forms to identify trends or issues.
Departments can refuse to hand out records in the requested formal in cases where converting the information would take up an unreasonable amount of time and money.
“The objectives of ‘Open Government’ will not be met if the government chooses to disclose information in an open format through the ‘Open Data Initiative,’ but not adopt the same practice for information requested through access to information,” Hall said.
In an interview with the Canadian Press, Clement said some data sets couldn’t be released over worries that they would be “manipulated and altered, thereby creating a situation of false information.”
Clement called the “balancing act” a way to prevent requesters from having “the ability to create havoc” by making data sets “changeable online.” Clement said that in those situations, the government needed to ensure data are not “corrupted in some way.”
A spokeswoman for Clement said his comments were in regards to one access-to-information request.
“The government of Canada is committed to openness and transparency and takes Canadians’ right of access seriously,” Heather Domereckyj said. “Government ATIP officials make every effort to assist requesters in a manner consistent with the letter and spirit of the Access to Information Act including where and when possible, providing the information in the requested format.”
One open data advocate said he was stunned by Clement’s comments, saying they ran counter to what Clement has said previously about open government initiatives.
David Eaves, who helped prod the government into creating its open data portal with data sets, said that if anyone misrepresented federal data online, other users would identify the error in “10 seconds.” The government could also publicly release all documents provided to the requester to show the original data set. And in extreme cases, the police could always get involved, he said.
Eaves suggested Clement’s definition of “corrupt” was playing with data in a way the government didn’t like.
“You don’t not create roads because you’re worried (drivers) are going to speed — you enforce speeding rules,” said Eaves.
“The whole logic behind it is so deeply flawed.”
Original Article
Source: canada.com/
Author: JORDAN PRESS
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