Privacy Commissioner vetoes cableco’s online shaming of delinquent customers

GATINEAU – The Privacy Commissioner has cracked down on a cable company for a Facebook post containing the names of customers with overdue accounts.According to an incident summary published this week, the Privacy Commissioner’s Office was contacted last December about an unnamed cableco in the Northwest Territories that had posted online a list of its customers with overdue accounts and the amounts they owed. When contacted by the Office, the cable provider said it believed the practice to be permissible, citing as an example municipalities who publish the names of individuals in arrears for their property taxes.The Privacy Commissioner disagreed, saying the need...