Statistics Canada To Hire Lockheed Staff

This is the letter, in it's entirety, as I recieved it in response to the original letter I sent through Vive Le Canada:<p> <blockquote><p> There have been public concerns about the security of census information in light of a contract by Statistics Canada with a group of firms including Lockheed Martin Canada. Statistics Canada wants to respond to these concerns since it is essential that Canadians should have no doubt whatsoever about the confidentiality of their census returns.<p> 1. Given the public concerns, we have decided to limit the scope of this contract strictly to the printing of questionnaires, the development of software and the provision of some specialized hardware. Under the new arrangement, only Statistics Canada employees will have access to completed census returns, both for the 2004 Census Test, as well as the 2006 Census. In other words, the group of Canadian companies headed by Lockheed Martin Canada will not carry out any of the operations associated with the Canadian Census - none.<p> 2. Is there a legitimate need for any contracting out of even some preparatory work for the census? Given technological changes, the 2006 Census will have to be conducted in a manner that is different from previous censuses. We have to offer Canadians a user-friendly option to return their questionnaires via the Internet - with security that exceeds that used by on-line banking operations. Among other requirements, this necessitates the practically instantaneous scanning of even those questionnaires returned via the regular mail. These tasks are enormously difficult to implement: they require an on-line operation capable of tracking the census returns of over 12 million households from one end of the country to the other to ensure that at all times we know who returned their questionnaires by mail and who did so via the Internet; and the practically instantaneous scanning of over 12 million questionnaires. Statistics Canada simply has no experience with the development of software involved in a huge and specialised scanning and Internet operation. Consequently, it was decided that it would be more cost-effective to leverage outside expertise in the development of these systems.<p> 3. When we decided to contract out the software development necessitated by the Internet, we wanted to be able to hold accountable the eventual contractor for the smooth functioning of the software and specialised hardware involved. We therefore specified that they must be responsible for the operation of the questionnaire scanning - of course, under our supervision and our own security arrangements so as to ensure the total security of Canadians' census returns up to the very high traditional standards of Statistics Canada. In addition, they were all to be sworn in under the Statistics Act and so be subject to all the confidentiality constraints and penalties to which regular Statistics Canada employees are subject. Statistics Canada was unqualifiedly certain that it could continue to be the guarantor of the confidentiality and security of census information.<p> 4. The contracting was carried out with the most scrupulous and meticulous care. The group of Canadian companies headed by Lockheed Martin Canada submitted what was clearly the best bid, based on their experience in carrying out similar tasks in other countries' censuses. <p> 5. To reiterate, even though Statistics Canada was unambiguously clear that it could protect confidentiality, we feel that public trust in the census is fundamental. Consequently, we have made arrangements to limit the contracting out of census work to nothing more than the provision of printing and specialised software and hardware. Under the new arrangements, all operational activities of the 2004 Census test and the 2006 Census will be carried out by regular employees of Statistics Canada - as in past censuses. Only employees of Statistics Canada, sworn to secrecy under the Statistics Act, and subject to significant penalties should their oath be violated, will have access to census returns. All completed census returns will be secured in facilities controlled by Statistics Canada. All of the Census data will be stored on a secure computer network, with no link outside of Statistics Canada. To verify this, we will have a security audit completed by at least three independent firms with expertise in Information Technology security.<p> The ability to produce high quality statistics is dependent on the trust of Canadians. Statistics Canada would never betray this trust by making available census returns to anybody outside of the Agency, especially a foreign country. <p> Ivan P. Fellegi<p> Chief Statistician of Canada<p> </blockquote><p>---<br>"History does not repeat itself, but it does rhyme" Mark Twain <br />
"The greatest price of not participating in politics is being governed by your inferiors." Plato

so they're doing nothing, only everything. Blah.

More manifest destiny to take us over by stealth.

Next we'll be hearing LOCKHEED MARTIN IS NOT, I REPEAT IS NOT GOING TO BE PROVIDING CANADA WITH VOTING MACHINES. They're just making the program and Diebold, CANADA will be providing the machines. But, no, uhun, Lockeed Martin will NOT be counting the votes, they're just making sure the winner is okay with the US government and that each of you has been recorded as a terrorist is you voted for the wrong party. But trust us Lockheed Martin CANADA, is not being hired at ALL.