GATINEAU – Bell has toned down its controversial targeted advertising program after Canada’s Privacy Commissioner said that the program's “significant impact on privacy” could result in the matter escalating to the Federal Court.
Privacy Commissioner Daniel Therrien made public the findings of its investigation into the program on Tuesday, noting that the program had sparked “an unprecedented” 170 privacy complaints under the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA), Canada’s federal private sector privacy law, since it was first rolled out in the fall of 2013.
Known as the Relevant Advertising Program, the initiative tracks the Internet browsing habits of customers, along with their app usage,…
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OTTAWA – Bell Mobility will be able to challenge a CRTC decision banning it from providing mobile video applications that are exempt from counting toward customers’ cap on their wireless data plans.
Federal Court of Appeal judge Denis Pelletier said Thursday that he would grant Bell the leave to appeal CRTC Broadcasting and Telecom Decision 2015-26. That comes just over a week after Justice Pelletier dismissed Bell’s request for an immediate stay of the same decision.
As Cartt.ca reported, Bell filed for leave to appeal the decision in February, arguing that the CRTC made errors in…
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MONTREAL – Videotron has formed a nine person Citizen Advisory Committee for its French-language community channel MAtv, as directed by the CRTC in February.
As Cartt.ca reported, the CRTC found that MAtv was not complying with local and access programming requirements, and directed it to do so before its next licence renewal in August 2015. It also ordered Videotron to form a citizens' advisory committee by March 15 that will determine the mix, scope and types of programs that would best serve the needs and interests of the greater Montreal community.
“At the end of our recruitment effort, nine citizens…
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OTTAWA–GATINEAU – Canada’s new emergency alert system may have officially launched this week, but it can’t reach all Canadians after some of the country’s biggest TV service providers, including Bell and Shaw, have delayed its full rollout.
Known as Alert Ready, the system notifies Canadians of emergency situations over their radios and through their televisions. Issued by emergency management officials such as fire marshals, police officers and public health personnel, the alerts are meant to warn the public of dangers to life and property, like severe weather, water contamination and industrial disasters, as well as Amber Alerts.
While all cable and satellite…
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OTTAWA–GATINEAU – An Arizona-based company offering lower credit card rates has been ordered by the CRTC to pay a $145,000 fine for violating Canada’s unsolicited telecommunications rules.
Acting on complaints, the Commission said Monday that it investigated Rainmaker Marketing/Maple Accounting for making unsolicited telemarketing calls to offer lower credit card rates. The pre-recorded automated calls were made to Canadians whose numbers were registered on the national do not call list (DNCL) and without their prior consent. The company also did not display the telephone number from which the calls originated, provide a local or toll-free number where it could be…
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TORONTO – CRTC Telecom vice chair Peter Menzies, U.S. Federal Communications Commission CIO Dr. David Bray, and CRTC Commissioner Raj Shoan are just three of the high level speakers confirmed for the 2015 Canadian Telecom Summit which will take place June 1 – 3 at the Toronto Congress Centre in Toronto.
Now in its 14th year, the Canadian Telecom Summit attracts leaders from the telecom, broadcast and IT industries to discuss the key issues and trends that will impact this critical sector of the economy. Join more than 500 suppliers, policy makers, regulators, customers and competitors in attending this annual…
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OTTAWA–GATINEAU – With a federal election looming, the CRTC laid out the ground rules for entities who call voters, or that engage others to do so.
As part of recent amendments to the Canada Elections Act and the Telecommunications Act, the Commission is responsible for establishing and maintaining a Voter Contact Registry during federal elections. Persons, corporations, or groups that engage in voter contact calls in relation to an election will be required to file registration notices and identifying information with the Commission for inclusion in the Voter Contact Registry.
Political entities, including candidates and political parties, corporations, trade associations and…
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OTTAWA – Canada’s Commissioner for Complaints for Telecommunications Services (CCTS) was quick to agree to Thursday’s proposal by the CRTC that it take on the job of dealing with complaints from TV viewers and administer a code of conduct for the industry.
CCTS said that it told the Commission last year during the Let’s Talk TV proceedings that it would accept the new ombudsmen role, should the Regulator decide to create one.
“The CRTC’s proposal that we apply our expertise to this new role is an expression of its continued confidence in our organization,” said CCTS Commissioner and CEO Howard Maker,…
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Le 2 décembre 2013, le CRTC a adopté le Code sur les services sans fil. Le CPRST, l’organisme indépendant et impartial de traitement des plaintes de l’industrie des télécom, s’est vu demander de l’administrer, soit de faire respecter les droits et obligations conférés aux clients et fournisseurs de services, et d’identifier et de publiciser les violations au Code. Nous l’avons fait et constatons que le nombre de violations est en augmentation.
Dans notre rapport annuel de l’automne dernier, nous rapportions les huit premiers mois d’activité du Code (jusqu’au 31 juillet 2014). Nous avions identifié 30 violations de la part…
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On December 2, 2013, the CRTC launched the Wireless Code of Conduct. CCTS, the telecom industry’s independent, impartial complaint-handling body, was asked to administer it – to apply the rights and obligations it affords consumers and service providers, as well as track breaches and report them publicly. We’ve been doing so, and the number of breaches is on the rise.
In our Annual Report last fall, we detailed the first eight months of Code activity (to July 31, 2014). We identified 30 violations by service providers. The biggest category of concern was failure to provide customers with documents required…
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