November 4, 2011
In 2009, a woman initiated a lawsuit against a Californian advertising firm and Toyota U.S.A. because of an aggressive advertising campaign that she claimed was designed to make individuals believe they were being stalked by a criminal (which, in fact, turned out to be fictitious). While the charges are now being dealt with by the Los Angeles Superior Court the case raises issues in respect of the application of privacy principles here in Canada.
In 2008, Toyota Matrix advertised the “Your Other You” campaign which targeted young males. It encouraged individuals to provide someone else’s personal information, who would then receive an invitation to a fake personality test. What really happened was, the “victim” ended up receiving numerous disturbing emails from an imaginary soccer hooligan with a pitbull named Trigger. This impersonator claimed to be on their way to the victim’s house, who had no idea it was a hoax. In order to promote the advertising campaign, a fake social networking account for the stalker was even set up.
How would a similar case play out here in Canada? Under the PIPEDA framework , there would possibly be a violation of the law because of the alleged collection, use and disclosure of personal information without consent. Further, PIPEDA’s requirement that the “identified purposes” of any collection, use or disclosure of personal information would not likely met. Finally, the reasonableness test, enshrined in PIPEDA, would probably be violated. In short, the facts pertaining to the case could put the relevant parties in the crosshairs of the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada and courts. As a result, the case should serve as a warning to advertising agencies to ensure that privacy law considerations are thoroughly canvassed with legal counsel before initiating campaigns involving personal information – especially where people are submitting friends’ data.
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Facebook, Marketing, PIPEDA, Privacy, Social Networking Websites | Tagged: Marketing, PIPEDA, Privacy Compliance | 
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Posted by Brian Bowman
September 27, 2011
On September 22nd Facebook introduced a new range of privacy settings aimed at “simplifying” the content users share, namely with respect to photos, personal information and various posts. Facebook says these changes are designed to make it explicitly clear to users who can see what is on their profiles at any given time. Now every time information is shared, the user is given the opportunity to quickly and easily adjust how visible it is to other users. These “inline controls” include where someone tags you in a photo or some other post, allowing you to tell who can see it by simply clicking on the icon in the top right corner. You can then very easily change your privacy settings relating to different types of posts accordingly. You also have the option of using a ”tag review” feature, which allows you to approve or deny posts to your profile before they becomes visible to others. This will likely be the most popular change, because it grants almost absolute control as to what is made visible on your page.
Some things you may not know… Under the default settings, when a person tags you in a status update this will appear on your profile. Therefore you may want to consider using the new tag/post review features in order to allow you to choose whether it makes it onto your wall or not. The default settings are set to “off”. When someone tags you in a post, it will be that person’s privacy settings that have final say over what is visible unless you specifically adjust the settings pertaining to posts you are tagged in. So make sure you personalize your privacy settings individually, because a “one size fits all” approach may not be in your best interests.
Do these changes require you to revisit your privacy settings? Your privacy settings should not have changed from what they were before, however some simplifications have been made. Therefore it is important that you check your settings to see what settings are now controlled “inline” (again, meaning adjustable for each separate post whether it be a picture, post or other information) and make sure that these inline controls are by default set to what you want.
What should you be doing moving forward? It is important to remember that Facebook is continually updating its layout, and this includes its privacy templates. While users should not fear that their settings will completely reset each time such changes occur, they should keep a close eye on new features that may (1) replace an existing feature; (2) remove an existing feature entirely; or (3) introduce something entirely different, which might require some tweaking from its default settings.
Leave a Comment » | Facebook, Personal Information, Privacy, Social Networking Websites | Tagged: Facebook, Privacy, Social Networking | Permalink
Posted by Brian Bowman
July 7, 2011
Tired of reading? How about a video to help you learn about Canada’s new anti-spam law?
I’m delighted to let you know about a cool feature on Pitblado’s new website called the “Whiteboard Sessions”, which are vlogs (or video blogs). We’ve just posted a 3 minute vlog of mine entitled “Are you a spammer?“, wherein I discuss:
- highlights of the new law
- why you should care
- an overview of the rules
- penalties for non-compliance; and
- proactive tips to help comply with the law
To watch “Are you a spammer?” please click here>>
Leave a Comment » | Anti-Spam Legislation, E-mail, Facebook, Internet, Marketing, Online Marketing, Privacy, Social Networking Websites, Technology | Tagged: E-mail, Facebook, Internet, Online Reputation Management, Privacy, Social Networking, Spam | Permalink
Posted by Brian Bowman
June 14, 2011
CJOB|680′s Geoff Currier recently asked me to participate in his live radio program called “The Nighthawk”. Geoff and callers raised a number of issues: “Spam, anti-spam legislation – is it getting better, is it getting worse, what do we know about how bad spam is in our computers right now?” To hear the answer to this and other questions please listen to the live broadcast recording here>>
Thanks to Geoff Currier and CJOB|680 for the invitation to participate in the program.
Leave a Comment » | Anti-Spam Legislation, Internet, Phishing, Privacy, Social Networking Websites, Spam | Tagged: anti-spam, Phishing, Privacy, Social Networking, Spam | Permalink
Posted by Brian Bowman
May 6, 2011
Canada’s Privacy Commissioner has just released the final report of her Office’s consultations on the online tracking, profiling and targeting of consumers by marketers and other businesses. “Most people have no idea about the rich trail of data they leave behind when they browse the Internet, use social networking sites, or engage the geo-location functions of their mobile devices,” the Commissioner observed. Organizations that track the online activities of Canadians must be more upfront about their practices, Privacy Commissioner Jennifer Stoddart has concluded… “it comes down to meaningful consent, which entails informed consent”.
Leave a Comment » | Device Fingerprinting, Facebook, Marketing, Monitoring, Privacy, Privacy Commissioner of Canada, Social Networking Websites, Technology | Tagged: Cloud Computing, Facebook, Internet, Privacy, Privacy Commissioner, Social Networking | Permalink
Posted by Brian Bowman
May 4, 2011
The Privacy Commissioner of Canada has called for legislation empowering her to impose substantial fines against major corporations that fail to adequately protect Canadians’ personal information from preventable breaches.
“I am deeply troubled by the large number of major breaches we are seeing, including serious incidents in recent weeks that have affected hundreds of thousands of Canadians,’’ Jennifer Stoddart said in a speech today at the Canada 3.0 forum in Stratford, Ont. “It seems to me that it’s time to begin imposing fines – significant, attention-getting fines – on companies when poor privacy and security practices lead to breaches.” To learn more, read the complete news release.
Leave a Comment » | Data Protection, Legislation Update, Privacy, Privacy Breach, Privacy Commissioner of Canada | Tagged: PIPEDA, Privacy, Privacy Breach, Privacy Commissioner | Permalink
Posted by Brian Bowman
April 14, 2011
Here’s a good article in the Globe & Mail’s Report on Business about the thorny issue of workplace monitoring. As I’m quoted by the Globe & Mail, “I recognize employers have risks and obligations to manage data, but on the other hand going to a more Big Brother approach isn’t the answer. And the privacy commissioner and the courts would agree with that.” Read the full article here>
Other related blog posts include Employee monitoring in today’s workplace and Social media: Is your organization’s head in the sand?
Leave a Comment » | Employee Monitoring, Facebook, Privacy, Social Networking Websites | Tagged: Employees, Facebook, Privacy, Social Networking | Permalink
Posted by Brian Bowman
March 24, 2011
David Stark of GfK has penned an excellent article about how technology is affecting the marketing research industry. In his article, David highlights broad trends, notably in quantitative research, and the increase in observational research and passive data collection. Among other things, he also discusses cookies, device identification and web scraping. This is a ”must read” for marketing researchers and a valuable read for others. I hope you check it out.
Leave a Comment » | Device Fingerprinting, Internet, Marketing, Privacy, Social Networking Websites, Technology | Tagged: Internet, Privacy, Social Networking | Permalink
Posted by Brian Bowman
March 17, 2011
Of course, the answer is yes. But who’s the best service provider in Canada?
You see Canada’s private-sector privacy legislation (PIPEDA) requires organizations to retain personal information only “as long as necessary”, regardless of the format in which such information is held. So emails and paper records alike should only be retained as long as necessary.
I know that many organizations across Canada are struggling to develop business-friendly retention schedules that comply with the law. In some cases, these businesses are outsourcing their efforts. Do you work with such a company? Does your company offer these services? If so, I know that readers of this blog would welcome any positive recommendations. Feel free to post a “Comment” below with your thoughts.
Leave a Comment » | PIPEDA, Privacy, Retention | Tagged: Outsourcing, Privacy Compliance | Permalink
Posted by Brian Bowman
In 2009, a woman initiated a lawsuit against a Californian advertising firm and Toyota U.S.A. because of an aggressive advertising campaign that she claimed was designed to make individuals believe they were being stalked by a criminal (which, in fact, turned out to be fictitious). While the charges are now being dealt with by the Los Angeles Superior Court the case raises issues in respect of the application of privacy principles here in Canada.
