A chill runs through us when we learn that the government has a new technological or digital initiative that it wants to deploy. The adage says “A scalded cat fears cold water”, Quebecers are not about to forget the SAAQ fiasco of barely a year ago.
• Read also: Facial recognition at the SAAQ: a debate requested in the National Assembly
• Read also: Suspended last year, the facial recognition project is back in action at the SAAQ
And now we learn that the government wants to relaunch the project to implement facial recognition for the management of citizens’ photos at the SAAQ. You have to believe that SAAQ managers either have a strangely short memory or an indomitable taste for risk. One thing is certain, when it comes to facial recognition, that is to say a technology that puts data as important and private as biometric data at risk, we do not necessarily want to trust the SAAQ.
Courtesy
Like a hair in the soup
Because it is important to remember, no debate, no consultation, no reflection seems to have been done beforehand. Even the Commission for Access to Information has reservations. Barely a year ago, the government was incapable of managing a technological change at the SAAQ. How can it convince us today that it is able to implement facial recognition according to the rules of the art? ?
We recently had a Ministry of Cybersecurity and Digital Affairs. It’s true. But neither the ministry nor its holder, Mr. Éric Caire, stood out for their competence and proactivity during the SAAQclic fiasco.
- Listen to the political meeting with Yasmine Abdelfadel and Marc-André Leclerc via QUB :
We know the song
Whether at the federal or provincial levels, Quebecers have understood that technology and digital technology are incompatible with the government: Phénix payroll system, SAAQclic, Sagir, digitization of health records, ArriveCan, etc. The scandals follow one another and are similar: cost overruns, explosion of deadlines, error after error in implementation, poor management of communications with users, etc. The list is long.
While the fax is still king in our health system, is it not more appropriate to return to the 21ste century before implementing a facial recognition system?