Case Studies
Can X-Road Be Travelled Abroad? Digital Governance Beyond Estonia
Matt Malone
Estonia’s X-Road is widely acknowledged to be an impressive tool of digital governance. Yet the limited replication or adoption of X-Road elsewhere raises questions about transferability.
Where is the Gender Lens in Canada’s Cybersecurity Policy?
Hannah Bacon and Veronica Kitchen
This gendered analysis of Canada’s National Cyber Security Strategy (NCSS) explores why certain conceptions of national security become entrenched in policy. The case encourages discussion of why gender has been absent from Canada’s NCSS, and considers the consequences of failing to take technology-facilitated gender-based violence (TFGBV) seriously.
Artificial Intelligence and Copyright: Balancing Innovation with Established Business Models in the Creative Industries
Ann Kristin Glenster
The case study sets out the dilemma between the need for generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) companies to train their GenAI models on vast amounts of data, scraped from the internet without regard for copyright holders’ right to control how their copyrighted works are used.
Public Investment, Private Gain:
Canada’s Role in the mRNA Vaccine Breakthrough
Natalie Raffoul and Sarah Hamm
This case study examines Canada’s under-recognized yet foundational role in the development of the COVID-19 mRNA vaccines. Despite its substantial public investment in this technology, Canada failed to secure direct benefits or timely vaccine access for its citizens.
Was Nortel Worth More Dead than Alive?
Dan Ciuriak and Harry Deng
This case study explores the decision-making process that led to Nortel’s liquidation, raising questions about industrial policy, technology sovereignty, and the role of anchor firms in innovation ecosystems.
Contact Tracing or Constitutional Creep?
South Korea’s High-Tech Pandemic Gamble
Barry Appleton
This case study analyzes South Korea’s pioneering yet controversial use of digital contact tracing during COVID-19. Set against the backdrop of the Itaewon outbreak in May 2020, the case raises urgent questions about surveillance, rights and democratic accountability.
Canada’s Digital Sovereignty is Under Threat:
A National Strategy is Imperative
Muna Mohamed
Canada’s digital economy contributes more than CDN$220 billion annually to Canada’s GDP and employs 2.4 million Canadians. However, the lack of sovereign computing capacity leaves this sector vulnerable to the interests of foreign actors.
Too Fast, Too Fragile? The Governance Dilemmas of Digital Contraception in Canada
Marika Jeziorek and Natasha Tusikov
This case explores the governance dilemmas posed by digital contraceptive technologies through the lens of Health Canada’s 2024 decision to approve the Natural Cycles app as a Class II medical device.
Intellectual Property Policies Set Canada’s and South Korea’s AI Strategies on Diverging Trajectories
James W. Hinton and Fabrice Blais-Savoie
The AI economy is emblematic of modern governance challenges. It is transnational, heavily concentrated, and often hard to conceptualize. The objective of this case is to provide a comparative perspective on two AI governance approaches and their outcomes.
Privacy vs. Public Good: Canada’s Data Dilemma in a Crisis
Florian Kerschbaum
The case of data sharing between Telus and the Public Health Authority of Canada (PHAC) highlights the challenges in privacy legislation. On the one hand, data sharing can have life-saving benefits. On the other hand, data sharing has serious privacy implications that must be balanced with sufficient safeguards.
When Goodwill Turns Bad:
The Case of Lightspeed Commerce Inc.
Bruce McConomy
Lightspeed Commerce Inc. was once among the darlings of the Toronto Stock Exchange. But the high rate of growth was not sustainable for this Canadian-based software provider.
Digital Sovereignty vs. Trade Liberalization: India’s Algorithm Disclosure Dilemma
Barry Appleton
This case explores India’s dilemma at the intersection of algorithmic governance, digital sovereignty and international trade.
A Juggling Act: Canada’s Role in the Global Regulation of Responsible Military AI
Branka Marijan
Amidst continued geopolitical challenges and the desire to align with allies, Canada recognizes that its role in the global regulation of military AI hangs in the balance.
The Challenges of Accountability in AI for Immigration: The IRCC and Canadian AI Governance
Ana Brandusescu
The use of AI in the IRCC continues to be a topic of debate, especially regarding ethical concerns and the potential for harm. While AI has been used to streamline processes, several of its uses by the IRCC have raised concerns.
Consent or Compromise? The Hidden Costs of AI in Cervical Cancer Screening
Karen Yeates and Taim Saeed
In an era when AI holds a seemingly endless horizon of potential to revitalize underserved healthcare systems, is the race to develop it leading us to deprioritize the security of those systems and the rights of the patients within them?
Facebook’s Role in Rohingya Atrocities Underlines Big Tech’s Accountability Gap
Pat de Brún
Investigations have found that Meta, through its Facebook platform, played a role in the ethnic cleansing and persecution of the Rohingya in Myanmar. But with access to justice for survivors of tech harms apparently blocked in the United States, what paths toward justice, accountability and remedy remain?
The Right to Repair in Canada: Advantages and Pitfalls
Natasha Tusikov
Despite Canada’s recent progress on right to repair laws, this case study argues that the questions of who has the right to repair and under what conditions remain core concerns for anyone who purchases and uses software-enabled devices.
Consent, Pay or Settle: Meta’s Struggle for Staying Profitable in the European Union
Lex Zard
Meta’s shift from the dual option of the “consent-or-pay” model to the triple option of personalized ads, subscription with no ads, and less personalized ads, highlights the challenges of balancing consumer privacy and profitability in digital markets.
Can the World Trade Organization Reduce Technological Inequality Among Nations?
Peter Carr
A rising inequality between developed and least developed countries (LDCs), as well as between LDCs themselves, has prompted the World Trade Organization to review the role of technology in this equation.
Martynka’s Refugee Support on Third-party Platforms Risks Data Security
Marika Jeziorek
Martynka is a digital platform created to provide legal aid and psychosocial support to Ukrainian refugee women. As Martynka continues to serve women refugees, it faces increasing pressure to balance real-time security needs, such as geolocation tracking, with data privacy concerns.