I appeared on the John Oakley Show to discuss Bell’s plan to mine user data. Listen to this podcast or download it here.
Telecom by yum9me (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0) https://flic.kr/p/53jSy4
Telecom
The Great Canadian Personal Data Grab Continues: Bell Expands Its Consumer Monitoring and Profiling
Last week, I wrote about the Great Canadian personal data grab, focusing on the expansive data collection habits of RBC (with its Android app) and Aeroplan (with its collection of all credit card transaction data). Now comes news that Bell is getting into the personal data grab game with an updated privacy policy that takes effect in mid-November. The new Bell “privacy” policy expands the uses of the information the company collects by focusing on ways to use data on network usage. The current policy makes no reference to network usage data, but the company now wants to use a wide range of personal data collected from Internet and mobile phone usage.
Bell identifies the following data for expanded usage:
- Web pages visited from your mobile device or your Internet access at home.
 This may include search terms that have been used.
- Location
- App and device feature usage
- TV viewing
- Calling patterns
Bell will also begin to use account data such as which products you use, device types, payment patterns, language preferences, gender, and age.
The scope of Bell’s intended personal data usage is remarkable. Given that many of its customers will have bundled Internet, wireless, and television services, the company will be tracking everything: which websites they visit, what search terms they enter, what television shows they watch, what applications they use, and what phone calls they make. All of that data will be correlated with their location, age, gender, and more.
CETA Reached “In Principle”, Part Three: Meaningless Claims on Telecom & E-commerce
Without the CETA text, it is very difficult to assess many of the purported benefits of the draft agreement (additional posts on the need to release the text, the IP provisions, and the big win for pharmaceutical companies despite declining Canadian investment in research and development). Consider the benefits for telecommunications and electronic commerce discussed in the government’s summary document. On electronic commerce, the government states:
Businesses engaged in electronic commerce will benefit from greater certainty, confidence and
protection.
Twenty years ago, electronic commerce was in its infancy. Today, electronic commerce is a part of our daily lives. Canadians shop and plan holidays online, and buy and download software and entertainment content, including movies, television and music. Advertisers are making increased use of “smart advertising†on the Web to track our shopping habits and promote specific deals likely to interest us.
Government Launches Consultation on Rules for ISP Notice-and-Notice System Amid Shift in Priorities
Industry Canada and Canadian Heritage launched a consultation yesterday on the rules associated with the Internet service provider notice-and-notice system that was established in Bill C-11, the copyright reform bill enacted in June 2012. Responses to the consultation are due by November 8, 2013. Most of the bill took effect in November 2012, but the government delayed implementation of the ISP rules, with expectation of a consultation and regulations to follow. It has taken nearly a full year, but the consultation was sent to undisclosed stakeholders with the promise to bring the notice-and-notice system into effect “in the near future.”
The notice-and-notice system allows copyright owners to send infringement notices to ISPs, who will be legally required to forward the notification to their subscribers. If an ISP fails to forward the notifications, it must explain why or face the prospect of damages that run as high as $10,000. ISPs must also retain information on the subscriber for six months (or 12 months if court proceedings are launched). Copyright owners may also send notifications to search engines, who must remove content that has been removed from the original source within 30 days. The notices must meet a prescribed form that includes details on the sender, the copyright works and the alleged infringement.
Despite some expectation that the consultation would place several issues on the table – form issues for notices, data retention, and costs for notices among them – the language used in the consultation letter suggests that the government is likely to simply bring the rules as articulated in the law into effect with no further regulations at all. It states:
Canadian Government Quietly Pursuing New ISP Code of Conduct
With the cost of cybercrime in Canada on the rise – a new report released last week by Symantec, a security software vendor, pegged the cost at $3.1 billion annually – my weekly technology law column (Toronto Star version, homepage version) reports that the Canadian government is quietly working behind-the-scenes to create a new Internet service provider code of conduct. If approved, the code would be technically be voluntary for Canadian ISPs, but the active involvement of government officials suggests that most large providers would feel pressured to participate.
The move toward an ISP code of conduct would likely form part of a two-pronged strategy to combat malicious software that can lead to cybercrime, identity theft, and other harms. First, the long-delayed anti-spam legislation features new disclosure requirements for the installation of software along with tough penalties for non-compliance. Recent comments from Industry Minister James Moore suggest that the government is ready to bring that law into effect. Second, the code of conduct would require participants to provide consumers with assistance should their computers become infected.
Recent Posts
The Law Bytes Podcast, Episode 232: What Will Canadian Digital Policy Look Like Under the New Liberal Carney Government? 
The Law Bytes Podcast, Episode 231: Sara Bannerman on How Canadian Political Parties Maximize Voter Data Collection and Minimize Privacy Safeguards 
The Law Bytes Podcast, Episode 230: Aengus Bridgman on the 2025 Federal Election, Social Media Platforms, and Misinformation 
The Law Bytes Podcast, Episode 229: My Digital Access Day Keynote – Assessing the Canadian Digital Policy Record 
Queen’s University Trustees Reject Divestment Efforts Emphasizing the Importance of Institutional Neutrality
