Privacy Slipping Away?

It always happens; you are in a rush and person ahead of you is buying a chocolate bar with a debit card.  They scan their debit card, the paper prints and after the signing and the transaction is complete you are tempted to scream!  Why oh why can nobody pay for anything with cash anymore?

 

This problem seems trivial but there is a more significant issue at stake.

 

Every time you use the 407 or a loyalty points card you are letting someone know where you are and where you have been.  Now perhaps that's not an issue for the specific transaction (who cares if you bought a chocolate bar last Wednesday?) but over time a significant portfolio of who you are and what you do is created.  Novels have been written about data mining where commercial companies collect information about individuals from thousands of sources—credit cards, loyalty programs, employment and banking records, government filings, and many more—then analyze and sell the data.  The specter of Big Brother is among us.

 

That said, there are some protections in law for your privacy.

 

In Canada, federal legislation governs the use of personal information by businesses.

 

You have right to see and correct any personal information about you collected by companies. Specifically, businesses must tell you in advance if they are collecting information, why the information is being gathered, and for what purposes it will be used.  That means you should read the fine print when you sign onto a mailing list to make sure you are comfortable with what will be done with your personal information.  Put another way, if you don’t want a profile created, don’t sign up for e-mail lists or loyalty cards – you may get some benefits but those benefits come with costs.

 

Personal information can be kept only if it is used for the reason it was gathered.  So, if you are told information is gathered to, say, run a customer loyalty program that information cannot be used for something else without your permission.  You have a right to review and correct any information gathered and the information must be kept up to date.  If you have a concern get on the phone and find out who to contact, then send them an e-mail.  It may take some effort but you can correct the record.

 

If your privacy rights are breached and information misused the Privacy Commissioner of Canada is entitled to investigate and to publish the results of the investigation. This power generally has the effect of leading to resolutions of complaints. You can get the contact information and background on the Privacy Commissioner at www.priv.gc.ca.  However, if a problem cannot be resolved by the Privacy Commission the Federal Court can intervene. If the Court rules that a business has contravened the law, the Court can order the business to change its behavior and can also award damages if warranted.

 

While we have to be cautious about revealing personal information too widely, there are protections in law for our privacy.