Privacy Commissioner of Canada Rules Bell's Targeted Ad Program Violates the Law

An anonymous reader writes: The Privacy Commissioner of Canada has released the long-awaited decision on Bell's targeted ads program. The Commissioner's press release soft-pedals the outcome — "Bell advertising program raises privacy concerns" — but the decision is clear: Bell's so-called relevant ads program violates Canadian privacy law. As Michael Geist explains, the key issue in the case focused on whether Bell should be permitted to use an opt-out consent mechanism in which its millions of customers are all included in targeted advertising unless they take pro-active steps to opt-out, or if an opt-in consent model is more appropriate. The Commissioner ruled that opt-in consent is needed, but Bell is refusing to comply with the ruling.

Comments

Re:Bell Now Determines to Comply

[MachDelta]

Yep. Chase the links and you'll find this tidbit:

Bell Canada says it is reversing its policy on tracking the Internet browsing habits of cellphone customers in response to a report from the country’s privacy watchdog that chastised the company’s “opt-out” approach.

From: www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/privacy-watchdog-urges-bell-to-change-web-tracking-policy/article23822585/