OTTAWA – Consumers need more effective privacy rules to protect the collection, use and disclosure of their location, says a new report from the Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC).
The report, Off the Grid: Pinpointing Location-Based Technologies and the Law, examines whether Canada has sufficient protections in place to address risks posed by location-based technologies. It also addresses whether Canadian consumers have sufficient disclosure regarding how and when telecommunications service providers collect and use location-based personal information.
“Location is highly unique, highly identifiable, and highly personal in nature, even when anonymized and aggregated,” said PIAC executive director and general counsel John Lawford, in the report’s news release. “Given a general lack of transparency regarding the collection, use and disclosure of personal information, it is essential that consumers have a more effective legal framework to protect them from the rapid developments in information collection technology, especially those capturing location.”
The report also questions whether the current privacy protections are sufficient for the purposes of balancing the privacy interests of individuals against location-based marketing and the provision of location-based services. A stronger default of privacy protection for location information, as seen in Europe, may therefore be required.
It also recommends that the CRTC undertake a fact-finding process into the collection and disclosure of location information by telecommunications service providers, as well as their direct and indirect use of the information.
In addition, the report offers a series of measures to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, including the strict enforcement of the “appropriate purpose” and “specific purpose” provisions of Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA), possible amendments to PIPEDA, and further research into consumer awareness of mobile device location tracking.
