Today's threads (a thread)
Inside: Canada's privatised shadow civil service; and more!
Archived at: https://pluralistic.net/2023/01/31/mckinsey-and-canada/
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@pluralistic This is simply astounding, the audacity. There should be a law that makes all government contracts public and accessible on the web, at the very least.
@pies @pluralistic That indeed is a law in some countries (including mine - Czechia) Exceptions for private/sensitive/state secret data typically need to be made which can then be abused to varying degrees to make the registry somewhat less useful, but its definitely possible and worth striving for.
@modrak_m @pluralistic There are very few exceptions where state secret should be able to apply, and I never buy the "private" secret argent. There is no need obligation to take on government jobs and anything purchased by the goverenment should be well described and documented. Any custom software should be public domain. Any libraries it's based on should be open source. I don't thing there will ever be a shortage of companies willing to take on those jobs, so let's use the size and monopsony power of the government to our advantage.
@modrak_m Ah, of course, you're right, I thought you meant trade secrets which are often used to hide processes and methods.
@pies Mostly agree though note that my intention was to highlight exceptions for private data of 3rd individuals not directly party to a contract which are IMHO often justifiable (e.g. when a private individual is identified as a receiver of a social service in a contract between a state entity and the service provider). In any case a public registry with some exceptions would usually be better than no registry.