Canadian Government Executive - Volume 24 - Issue 03

Bots and trolls can pile into an online consultation to bias or undermine it if involvement is not monitored and controlled. Allowing anonymous participation opens the flood gates to this sort of manipulation. Software for making bots is becoming mainstream and easier to use. Bots may become a common way to interact with technology. Bots can manipulate part- icipation by playing both sides of a debate. Real identities are often used to gain entrance into consultation processes. Scraped data is often used to develop voter profiles to tailor online ads and propagandized news. Ability of trusted overseers to audit underlying soft- ware code removes worries of hacked consultations. Eligibility to offer input or vote is authenticated without adding onerous barriers. Promotion of civic literacy, healthy information diets, and critical self- defence makes the public resilient. General Data Privacy Regulation is the bulwark against highjacked identity and manipulation. Consulters and consultees should be able to verify submissions during and after the fact. Submissions are further scrutinized to detect suspicious patterns of online activity. Online systems should prioritize security to protect data and system operations from attacks. May/June 2018 // Canadian Government Executive / 17