Dog passes online course as part of test into Alberta online verification gaps

An Edmonton-based company is trying to prove there are gaps in verification when it comes to completing an online training course.

It comes after the company tried proving their point by signing up its own dog.

Phoebe is a nine-year-old pug and her owner’s company, Cognisense, signed the dog up for a defensive driving course through the Alberta Motor Association (AMA).

“The whole idea of this is, it wasn’t about proving that a dog couldn’t get demerits off their driver’s license,” said Robert Day, managing director of Cognisense.

“We mainly wanted to see that it’s about showing that Alberta’s online training has no identity or participation checks at all.”

Cognisense helps other organizations deliver online training courses.

The pug didn’t complete the defensive driving course, but it was done under her name by an online workaround.

“If a pug can pass, anyone can.”

The AMA said it delivers defensive driving courses in full compliance with Alberta Transportation’s regulations and standards.

“We were first made aware of this situation by Cognisense, a company that deliberately created a false profile to complete an online demerit reduction course with the admitted purpose of wanting to sell us their commercial product,” AMA said in a statement to Global News.

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“To be clear: no dog received a demerit reduction. Completing the course does not result in automatic demerit reduction – the certificate must be officially validated in-person and match against a valid driver’s licence.”

AMA said any claim by Cognisense that taking the course alone results in demerit reduction, that the process for ultimately reducing demerits lacks in identity verification, or that they successfully bypassed any of these safeguards, is false.

AMA said to have demerits removed from someone’s record, that person must present — in person — a completion certificate along with a matching valid driver’s licence for validation at an registry.

Alberta Transportation confirmed that is the correct process for a defensive driving course.

“We are aware of a recent report involving an online exam completed under a false profile,” the province said in a statement. “Alberta’s government is reviewing whether existing policies sufficiently govern the approval and tracking of online DDC certificates, and whether updates are needed to ensure integrity and accountability in the demerit reduction process.”

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