Yesterday Bell announced that it would start collecting all sorts of data on users of its services so that it can do targeted marketing. Well, I think Bell got more than it bargained for as Canada’s Privacy Commissioner is going to look into this:
Canada’s privacy commissioner will be investigating after Bell informed customers by letter that it plans to begin collecting detailed information about their consumption habits in order to offer “relevant ads.”
Scott Hutchinson, a spokesman for the privacy commissioner, told CBC Montreal that his office has received several complaints.
I guess that Bell customers aren’t happy. And they are really not going to be happy with this part:
Customers have until Nov. 16 to opt out, but [Michael] Geist said they may not be aware of what, exactly, they’re really opting out of.
“As far as I can tell, when you’re opting out, you’re opting out of targeted ads. You’re not opting out of the broader collection more generally,” Geist told CBC’s Daybreak host Mike Finnerty on Tuesday morning.
Philippe Viel of the Montreal-based consumer protection group Union des consommateurs puts it more bluntly.
“The only option to opt out offered is to not receive relevant ads. They’re going to collect the data anyway,” he said.
Lovely.
If you pay close attention to the screenshots from my iPhone on this blog, you’ll notice that I am on Bell for my phone service. My iPhone 5 is unlocked, but I chose to use Bell for a variety of reasons I am not going to go into. As of today, I will be looking at Rogers and Telus and porting my number across to them. I find Bell’s scheme to be a massive invasion of my privacy and if I want to opt out of this invasive data collection, I should be able to opt out completely. The fact that I cannot says to me that I should take my mobile phone service elsewhere.
I’m sure other Canadians feel the same way.
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This entry was posted on October 23, 2013 at 8:59 am and is filed under Commentary with tags Bell, Privacy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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Bell To Get Investigated By Privacy Commissioner
Yesterday Bell announced that it would start collecting all sorts of data on users of its services so that it can do targeted marketing. Well, I think Bell got more than it bargained for as Canada’s Privacy Commissioner is going to look into this:
Canada’s privacy commissioner will be investigating after Bell informed customers by letter that it plans to begin collecting detailed information about their consumption habits in order to offer “relevant ads.”
Scott Hutchinson, a spokesman for the privacy commissioner, told CBC Montreal that his office has received several complaints.
I guess that Bell customers aren’t happy. And they are really not going to be happy with this part:
Customers have until Nov. 16 to opt out, but [Michael] Geist said they may not be aware of what, exactly, they’re really opting out of.
“As far as I can tell, when you’re opting out, you’re opting out of targeted ads. You’re not opting out of the broader collection more generally,” Geist told CBC’s Daybreak host Mike Finnerty on Tuesday morning.
Philippe Viel of the Montreal-based consumer protection group Union des consommateurs puts it more bluntly.
“The only option to opt out offered is to not receive relevant ads. They’re going to collect the data anyway,” he said.
Lovely.
If you pay close attention to the screenshots from my iPhone on this blog, you’ll notice that I am on Bell for my phone service. My iPhone 5 is unlocked, but I chose to use Bell for a variety of reasons I am not going to go into. As of today, I will be looking at Rogers and Telus and porting my number across to them. I find Bell’s scheme to be a massive invasion of my privacy and if I want to opt out of this invasive data collection, I should be able to opt out completely. The fact that I cannot says to me that I should take my mobile phone service elsewhere.
I’m sure other Canadians feel the same way.
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This entry was posted on October 23, 2013 at 8:59 am and is filed under Commentary with tags Bell, Privacy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.