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The B.C. government says it took down its public employee directory due to cybersecurity and privacy concerns, but now some are worried the restricted access amounts to a loss of transparency.
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British ColumbiaTransparency issues raised over B.C. gov't decision to remove public employee directoryThe B.C. government says it took down its public employee directory due to cybersecurity and privacy concerns, but now some are worried the restricted access amounts to a loss of transparency.Charity says government officials' contact information was valuable to efficiently organize, work on projects
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The B.C. government says it took down its public employee directory due to cybersecurity and privacy concerns, but now some are worried the restricted access amounts to a loss of transparency.
With the B.C. Government Directory now offline, members of the public no longer have access to individual government employees' contact information, including emails and phone numbers.
A B.C. charity says this isn't just a small administrative change.
Ryan Stuart, community engagement lead with the Outdoor Recreation Council of B.C., said the directory restriction will make finding the right officials even more difficult than it already can be.
"It was really valuable to be able to go online and be able to find … an actual person I can call or email and say, 'Here's my problem, are you the right person?'"
Many of the charity's members are small, volunteer-run groups trying to create outdoor opportunities in their communities — which often comes with a great deal of co-ordinating government approvals and permissions.
Without a direct contact, people have to reach out to a general email mailbox or phone number, which Stuart described as feeling like a "black hole."
"That just makes their job even harder," Stuart said.
Getting in touch with the right official, at the right time, can make the difference between a project being approved or getting delayed.
Stuart added he doesn't question the legitimacy of the government's decision, noting that cybersecurity is a real concern.
"But we think there are easy solutions out there that they could be looking at, that are somewhere between a fully open database and directory and no access whatsoever."
Privacy commissioner weighs in
Michael Harvey, B.C.'s information and privacy commissioner, said there's no question the cybersecurity environment at present is deteriorating, and he added it's a valid concern.
But he said taking away access to the directory is also a "very serious transparency issue."
"Our public bodies, they're paid for by public funds and they are accountable to the public and they must remain so," Harvey said.
He said anytime information once available to the public is taken away, it's a decrease in transparency.
"It leads people to be less trusting," the commissioner said.
Harvey said there needs to be a creative solution that doesn't compromise transparency for the sake of privacy and security.
The commissioner himself said he used the directory everyday to understand who was doing what and to contact key officials.
"It is a vital resource for people in the system and for people outside the system."
He noted that while the government has said it is also protecting employee privacy, contact information for employees is not considered private personal information under B.C. legislation.
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He added that he recognizes some public servants have been targeted and faced threats, which is unacceptable.
"This decline in civility is arising from a trust problem. We're not going to make it better by further exacerbating the trust problem," Harvey said.
"Ultimately, we can't be going backward when it comes to transparency. Going backward will only lead to diminished trust."
The B.C. Conservatives have also criticized the governing B.C. NDP's decision to "shut the door" on the directory.
Ministry says updated directory to come
The B.C. Ministry of Citizen Services declined an interview.
Instead, in a statement, a ministry spokesperson said the directory was created to support legitimate contact with the government — but "cyber threat actors" have been taking advantage of the access.
"We fend off hundreds of cybersecurity attacks each day, and that risk has been increasing over the past few months as AI tools make it faster and easier to harvest public information and create more convincing, targeted messages and scripts," said the ministry.
The ministry said law enforcement partners, including the RCMP, advised the government to "take this action."
The RCMP's federal policing Pacific region said "cybercrime investigators identified a vulnerability that had the potential to expose sensitive information relating to government employees."
The RCMP said the data could have assisted malicious actors in identifying technical details that could have supported "further cyber intrusion attempts" or various other targeting activities like phishing.
The ministry said it plans to provide an updated directory page with contact information for senior executives in all government ministries.
"The updated version will direct users to ministry, service, and media contacts, while reducing the public exposure of individual employee contact information and associated cybersecurity risks," the statement added.
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