Welcome to TfD Weekly

Technologists for Democracy is a community of Canadians working with technology towards better democracy for all. We run campaigns, build tools, and organize around privacy rights, surveillance legislation, and responsible AI.

Our active campaigns:

Stop Cineplex from Facial Detection — Cineplex Digital Media runs facial detection technology on advertising billboards at Union Station Bus Terminal. We filed a complaint with the Office of the Privacy Commissioner, and an investigation is underway.

People's Consultation on AI — A civil society initiative to ensure Canadians, not just industry, shape federal AI policy. TfD is an endorsing organisation and co-hosted a consultation event in March.

If this work resonates with you, join us every Tuesday at Civic Tech Toronto or follow us on Mastodon:

Technologists for Democracy (@techfordemocracy@mstdn.ca) - Mastodon Canada

19 Posts, 24 Following, 45 Followers · We are Canadians keeping tech accountable. Canadians using technology towards better democracy for all

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This Week at Civic Tech Toronto

TfD meets every Tuesday at Civic Tech Toronto. The most recent featured presentation was by Ilya Kreynin, Growth and Operations Lead at the City of Toronto's Open Data team and member of the Civic Dashboard team.

Ilya's talk, "Not A Startup: Organizing For Civic Technology", explored the unique skill sets and responsibilities that make civic tech and civic participation different from organisations people are more used to. Civic tech projects are not startups. They're more akin to community organisations, with much to learn from organizing and its principles. The session was live and interactive for both in-person and online participants via a first-ever live application of the Polis Reaction Canvas.

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People's Consultation on AI: Submissions Now Public

The People's Consultation on AI has closed, and the submissions are now public. The consultation received just over 65 submissions in total, including from micro-consultations independently hosted in Vancouver, Montreal, Toronto, and online, as well as comments from approximately 30 individuals and 20 organisations representing a range of interests, communities, and areas of expertise across Canada.

This is a meaningful body of civil society voices on AI policy, and we encourage you to read through the submissions. A shared folder with all submission files is available on the submissions page.

One note from the consultation organisers: they ask that submissions not be fed into any LLM programs, chatbots, or similar software without the explicit prior consent of each submission's respective authors.

Browse the submissions →

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Civic Tech Brampton

We recently presented at a Civic Tech Brampton meetup, where we spoke about our community, shared our vision, and made some friends. Photos from the event are coming soon. If you're in the Brampton area, their next meetup is tomorrow — RSVP here.

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Monthly Volunteer Meeting: Second Wednesday of the Month

TfD hosts a monthly volunteer meeting on the second Wednesday of each month. The next one is on April 8th. These meetings are a great way to get more involved with our ongoing campaigns and projects, and are open to all who are interested.

If you would like to get involved, our event link is now live. RSVP on Luma

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AI Governance Playbook Update

We'll be collaborating with an Arts NGO to develop an AI Governance Playbook and AI Literacy Workshop. Both the workshop and the playbook will be used as guidance by the larger arts sector. In our initial meeting with them, they discussed:

• The state of the cultural sector following the first-ever Summit on AI and Culture
• Their need for AI capacity building
• The want for governance as they consider adopting model AI into their work

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Waymo Eyes the Canadian Market

Waymo is trying to enter the Canadian market with its major lobbying effort focused on British Columbia. However, provincial law does not allow for autonomous vehicles to be deployed on the roads, with similar rules throughout provinces in Canada. Waymo also has not met the requirements for a permit to run on roads from Transport Canada. Similar efforts are underway in Ontario, but the same roadblocks exist.

If you are concerned about the privacy, congestion, and public transit issues Waymo presents, get involved with us!

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Privacy & Legislation Watch

Bill C-22 introduces additional powers that allow officials to request tracking data from foreign telecommunications providers. This is being touted as a way to lawfully access data from internet services and their subscribers to protect from abuse, especially with the OpenAI revelations from Tumbler Ridge. Yet the Supreme Court of Canada has repeatedly held that IP address and subscriber information requires a warrant to access from providers. The international provision creates a framework for big tech companies to voluntarily submit information to authorities and seeks to bypass the current transnational framework in place.

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Technologists for Democracy is a community of Canadians who work with technology towards better democracy for all. Learn more at techfordemocracy.ca