Birthday cake marks seven-year wait for info on government contract with IBM

VANCOUVER - A B.C. group that lobbies for greater access to information has marked the seven-year wait for data on a government contract with IBM with a birthday cake.

The Freedom of Information and Privacy Association filed the request in 2004 for the $300-million contract for IBM to supply computer support services for the provincial government.

Vincent Gogolek, executive director of the association, said the B.C. Supreme Court has already ruled in its favour and ordered the province to release uncontentious documents.

"We've been in B.C. Supreme Court twice and there have been a number of commissioner rulings and we've won all of them," Gogolek said in an interview.

However, Margaret MacDiarmid, the province's open government minister, said Gogolek's group is requesting information that could put the private information of B.C. citizens at risk.

Earlier this year, the province handed over much of the documents in dispute, but continues to withhold information on the names of the IBM server and where they are located.

The association also wants a list of the software IBM uses to manage to computer system.

The ministry believes "a mistake has been made" in the privacy commissioner's ruling to release the information and has asked for a judicial review, MacDiarmid said.

"The concern (is) that government systems would be made vulnerable to people hacking into them," she said. "That's the worry, a worry of a very significant security risk. Otherwise, a judicial review wouldn't have been requested."

However, the information and privacy commissioner's office disagreed.

In a ruling released a year ago, adjudicator Michael McEvoy sided with the association.

"I agree with the applicant that revealing the name of the system software does not provide a would-be criminal access to data in the province's computer system," he wrote.

"I would also add that knowing a server's location does not equate to gaining entry to it."

The case is headed back to court for the review in March.

MacDiarmid said it is highly unusual for the government to ask for a judicial review and she noted the decision in this case underlines the extent of the government's security concerns.

But Gogolek said Premier Christy Clark has often touted her commitment to openness and that the IBM contract doesn't fit into that.

He said his group's request has gone through a complicated process involving a myriad of appeals, including over IBM's concerns that its commercial interests would be harmed although they were rejected by the privacy commissioner.

"They don't like open government," he said of the government. "Protestations to the contrary."

He predicts the association will continue fighting for the information past the 10-year life of the contract as taxpayers shell out more money for the government's legal costs.