Tag: privacy
Contactless Payment: Don’t Fear the Skimmer
A longtime family friend of mine worked in the banking industry at the time when credit cards were being rolled out in Canada. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, he would drive from town to town in rural Ontario to convince skeptical bank employees that it was possible to buy groceries with a 3″ […]
Read more »Getting to know you: What do genetic testing companies get when you send them your DNA?
/Have you taken a DNA test to find out where in the world your ancestors came from? If so, congratulations! You may have helped create a new treatment of psoriasis. How is that even possible? Turns out a direct-to-consumer genetic testing company sold the rights to DNA samples to a major drug company to help […]
Read more »Big Tech hears your privacy concerns — because they’re always listening
From competition law concerns to the value of personal information, big tech companies are facing increasing scrutiny. This summer, Apple and Facebook both admitted to listening to their users’ conversations to “improve” their services. In August 2019, Facebook confirmed that it paid outside contractors to transcribe audio clips from users. It did not tell the […]
Read more »So you’re the victim of a data breach. What now?
/Data breaches are becoming all too common. Canadians entrust companies with all sorts of personal information. This data can be immensely profitable to fraudsters. And high-profile breaches — from Yahoo!’s in 2013 to Equifax’s in 2017 to Capital One’s this year — seem to be on the rise. Millions of Canadians have had their personal […]
Read more »Why are social media giants ignoring Canadian laws?
Social media powerhouses like Facebook seem to think that they do not have to follow Canadian advertising and privacy rules, and it’s starting to bother Canadian politicians. A new Canadian law would require online ad giants to keep records of partisan ads, including the source of the advertising. Rather than comply with the law, Google […]
Read more »High Time for Canada to bring into force law requiring notification of data breaches
By Jean-Marc Leclerc of Sotos Class Actions. In July 2015, the Government of Canada amended the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act to require companies to disclose data breaches to the Privacy Commissioner of Canada and to affected individuals. The amendments would require companies to disclose breaches “if it is reasonable in the circumstances […]
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