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.
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.
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:
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”.
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>
Accountingweb has a great article here that deals with an issue that most business professionals on Facebook these days are increasingly facing… “If you have a Facebook account, you’ve probably faced the dilemma of whether to accept a friend request from a business associate. Declining the invitation can cause wrinkles in professional relationships, but accepting the invitation may mean that you may not be able share as freely as you’d like on Facebook.” The article provides a detailed way that you can configure your Facebook friends lists to help in these situations.
If you know of other similar articles that can help business professionals to better manage their social media activities, please share by posting a Comment below. Thanks! And thanks to my colleague, Mark Wallace, for the head’s up about the Accountingweb article.
I was pleased to recently deliver a presentation called “The Power & Pain of Social Media” with my colleague, Adam Herstein, to the Manitoba Association of Risk and Insurance Managers.
Doing the presentation made me think that it might help your organization to highlight the following previous posts… Hope they help!
CTV News has an excellent article that discusses important issue of how to monitor your reputation on social networks. While including some practical tips, the article discusses the importance of being proactive with your online reputation and privacy in what is described as “this Wild West world”.
If your answer is “no” you’re wrong. Sorry, but it was a trick question. Whether your organization admits it or not, it is in the social media world. Clients, prospective clients, employees and even competitors are almost certainly engaging in conversations about your organization on Facebook and LinkedIn. The question is whether you’re a part (or even aware) of those conversations. The second question is what are you going to do to shape those conversations, to the extent that you can?
The reality is that Canadian employees, for example, are blogging, tweeting and accessing social networking websites with increasing frequency. And the result is increased legal risks for Canadian businesses. These risks include disgruntled employees intentionally revealing trade secrets, defaming supervisors, harassing co-workers, or posting negative information about their employers’ business. There are even additional threats resulting from loyal employees who inadvertently disclose information online that runs afoul of privacy and competition laws. These threats won’t go away if your company has its head in the sand regarding social media.
One important step to dealing with and leveraging social media is to implement a social media policy within your organization. Doing so won’t address every potential headache related to social media, but it will help to manage online discussions that are occurring during and after work hours by your own employees. And since some of the greatest risks I’ve mentioned above stem from your employees, my best advice is to implement a social media policy. Key components in a social media policy should include:
defining the scope of prohibited activities;
clarifying to whom the policy applies;
addressing how infringing content should be removed from social media sites;
spelling out who, when and how monitoring of social media sites occurs; and
advising of penalties and enforcement of the policy.
Who is the biggest threat to your privacy? Government bodies? No. Businesses? Nope. How about your supposed friends, or “frenemies”? Absolutely.
No one knows more detailed personal information about you than your Facebook friends. So do we need new privacy laws to protect you from violations perpetrated by other individuals? Read more>>
This blog provides practical assistance to Canadian businesses so they can better deal with issues related to privacy, access to information and social media law. I hope you subscribe to this blog via RSS (below) or via e-mail (below) so that you can receive timely updates to new posts. Thanks, Brian
This blog is presented for informational purposes only. Content does not constitute legal advice or solicitation and does not create solicitor-client relationship. Views expressed are solely the author's and should not be attributed to any other party, including Pitblado LLP or its clients. The author makes no guarantees regarding the accuracy or adequacy of the information contained herein or linked to via this blog. The author is not able to provide free legal advice. If you are seeking advice on specific matters, please contact Brian Bowman at (204) 956.3520 or bowman@pitblado.com, but please be aware that any unsolicited information sent to the author cannot be considered to be solicitor-client privileged. Comments published on this blog do not reflect the views of Brian Bowman, Pitblado LLP or its clients.
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.
Posted by Brian Bowman 
