Information & Ethics committee  I just want to say one thing. There are a variety of things, of course, that we can do, but you asked how we can regain the trust of the public in terms of what government is doing. With due respect, there was one thing that took place last year that further eroded that trust. Prime Minister Trudeau was asked by the federal Privacy Commissioner to include political parties under the privacy laws.

Information & Ethics committee  May I speak?

Information & Ethics committee  The whole point is that when you're collecting data from members of the public, they don't give you their personal data to do whatever the heck you want with it. They give it to you for a particular purpose. They have to pay their taxes. They're required to do that. They realize that.

Information & Ethics committee  Licence plates are not supposed to be used for that purpose. They're not supposed to be used to track you coming and going. That's how surveillance and tracking grow enormously. I have a quick, funny story. Steve Jobs, who, of course, was the creator of Apple, used to buy a new white Mercedes every six months less a day.

Information & Ethics committee  Well, smart government doesn't mean you identify everybody and track what they're doing. With due respect, that's not what smart government means. If that's what it means, then it's no longer free. It's not a free and open society any longer. We have to oppose that. Smart means you can deliver smart services to lots of citizens without invading their privacy.

Information & Ethics committee  I couldn't agree more with Michael. He's absolutely right that the notion of consent is almost non-existent the way it's been whittled down. You see, consent is essential to control. Privacy is all about personal control over the uses of your data. If you're not consenting to it in a positive way, with positive, affirmative consent, you don't know what's happening with your data.

Information & Ethics committee  I just want to say, Mr. Baylis, that I agree with you. We have to explore these new technologies. There's no question. We just have to ensure that in addition to what Michael said, we have to update our laws. They're so dated. We have to ensure the technology is such that we can truly safeguard the information and it won't be accessed by others.

Information & Ethics committee  I totally support Commissioner Daniel Therrien's call to the federal government to upgrade the PIPEDA, for example, which dates from the early 2000s. He also said we need to add privacy by design to the new law because, after all, they have embedded it in the GDPR. We need new tools.

Information & Ethics committee  I agree with Michael. I think we have very strong resources here in Canada. Perhaps they will be insufficient in the future, but certainly in terms of the younger generation, I mentor a lot of students and I always tell them, “Make sure you learn how to code.” You don't have to become a coder, but learn how the technology works.

Information & Ethics committee  Forgive me, but I'm going to say it depends, because it depends on how it's constructed. A digital identity, if it's strongly protected and is unique and encrypted and has very restrained access, may facilitate greater access to services, etc., but identity theft is huge. It's the fastest-growing form of consumer fraud ever.

Information & Ethics committee  As long as the biometric is a strong biometric or uses biometric encryption, which encrypts the data automatically in a way that only the individual with their own biometric can decrypt it.... Unfortunately, there's a lot of association of biometrics with risk, so it's not a slam dunk that your biometrics are linked to your digital identity.

Information & Ethics committee  I don't think more data is better at all. The example you give is a very worthwhile one. You want to reach out to people, but there are so many risks in using data for purposes never intended. Theoretically, we give data to the government for a particular purpose. We pay our taxes or we do whatever.

Information & Ethics committee  It's a treasure trove for hackers. People are going to hack into that data. It's just going to be a magnet for the bad guys.

Information & Ethics committee  Improving service levels to citizens is, of course, extremely important and not everyone, as [Technical difficulty—Editor], has equal access to the Internet and different levels of technology. I think improving services to individuals, to citizens, is a very valid pursuit. It's the means by which you do it.

Information & Ethics committee  It sounds very positive. You're going to have security embedded in [Technical difficulty—Editor]