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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.
>Bell's so-called relevant ads program violates Canadian privacy law. >Bell is refusing to comply with the ruling.
So who's going to jail?
No one yet. As the summary states, this finding was by the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, not a court. The next step would be for the Canadian version of the Justice Department (probably a Crown Attorney's office) to decide if criminal laws were violated and if so whether they want to press charges. If they do, there would then be a trial. So we're a long way away from anyone going to jail. I'm not sure if the Privacy Commissioner has the power to levy fines, but if so, they could certainly be challenged in court.
If I can be modded down for being a troll, can I be modded up for being an orc, or a balrog?
The US could use a lot more opt-in. Getting real tired of the level of opt-out.
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/
No idea how it works anywhere else but at Waterloo University, On, Canada. There are about a dozen $20 optional donations that automatically go to a number of campus organizations at enrollment. Of course you can opt-out of these donations being traveling to these distant and fragmented organizations and filling out the appropriate forms.
Troll is not a replacement for I disagree.
Every 5 years or so I forget how bad my experiences with Bell Canada have been and I buy a service from them. Invariably within a month or two I'm horribly disappointed. Incompetence, poor ethics and deceptive pricing. Then I bounce into the arms of small local providers and I relearn what good service is all about.
I don't know what went wrong with Bell. Some kind of institutionalized bad karma or something, but they have to be the worst large corporation to deal with in Canada.
The thing is, corporations shouldn't be allowed to run afoul of the law and screw their customers over, only to say "oops, we'll fix that" when they're finally called to task. That encourages them to screw us over this with no penalties other than to cease, but the damage is already done.
How about Bell cuts a nice big cheque back to any customers affected by this, AND stops.