TfD Weekly - 24th September 2026
AI chatbots and the new dark patterns, our next volunteer meeting on October 14, and a save the date for Film Club on October 16.
Welcome to TfD Weekly
TfD Weekly is the newsletter of Technologists for Democracy (TfD), a Toronto-based civic tech organisation working at the intersection of technology, privacy, and democratic accountability. Each week we recap what's happening at Civic Tech Toronto, share updates on our campaigns, and keep an eye on legislation that affects Canadians' digital rights.
Our active campaigns:
Previous campaigns:
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Civic Tech Toronto Recap
Topic: Dark patterns 2.0: Manipulative design in the age of AI
"Dark patterns" are design tactics that nudge users into choices that benefit an online service. Think about how difficult it is to cancel an Adobe subscription or Amazon account. It took just a few clicks to sign up but a round trip to Niagara to cancel.
Dark patterns also exist in the day-to-day user experience by making it harder to opt out. Examples include hiding the "skip" button in a lighter font on the edge of the screen, or ads that open up even after you click the "x" icon to close them. Yes, these are annoying. In contrast, with AI chatbots, dark patterns show up as sycophancy and people tend to enjoy it. As one study participant put it, it's "manipulation... but not the bad kind."
While certain jurisdictions have tried to find a way to regulate this, it's very much a work-in-progress.
Speaker: Dominique Kelly, Postdoctoral Associate in the Faculty of Information and Media Studies at Western University.
Civic Tech Toronto meets every Tuesday. Subscribe for future events
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Privacy & Legislation Watch
Last week, Cynthia Khoo joined us at Civic Tech Toronto to walk through the Citizen Lab and Canadian Civil Liberties Association's response to Bill C-22. Their verdict: most provisions in the bill fail two basic tests for surveillance powers, that they are truly necessary and that they use the least intrusive means available.
If you missed the talk, the full brief is worth a read: (Un)forced Errors: An Analysis of Proposed Surveillance Expansion under Bill C-22
Add your voice and sign the petition against Bill C-22.
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TfD Volunteer Meeting
Our next volunteer meeting is on Wednesday, October 14 at 6 PM. If you're interested in getting involved with Technologists for Democracy, come say hello.
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Film Club: Save The Date!
We've got the much-anticipated second instalment of our film club coming up! We'll share the details with you really soon, make sure you're subscribed to our Luma to get the notification the moment it's live.
Keep your evening on the 16th of October free for a friendly night of special programming.
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Technologists for Democracy (@[email protected]) - TheCanadian.Social
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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