Privacy tool for business owners

The Privacy Commissioner has released a new book for businesses on May 23rd which summarizes the most relevant privacy cases over the past 7 years. The book, called Leading by Example: Key Developments in the First Seven Years of the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA), provides a good overview of the areas where businesses have failed to comply with privacy legislation.

Take this quick test to find out how much you know. Which of the examples listed below are privacy violations?

A. You send an unsolicited email containing marketing material to an individual at their business email address. You got the email address from the website of the individual’s employer (let’s assume that the reason the employer publishes the list of individual employees online is not to receive unsolicited marketing material unrelated to the employer’s business).

B. Along with your monthly credit card statement from your bank, the statement contains marketing material. There is no opt-out procedure for you to elect not to receive the additional marketing material.

C. In an advertisement for his services, a real estate broker publishes a list naming the top 5 salespeople in his area and their individual sales figures (without, of course, asking the salespeople if they are okay with this).

D. A bank inadvertently faxes a copy of a client’s account information to the wrong fax number where it is read by a third party.

E. When you go to return a purchase at your local department store, the clerk asks you for photo identification, advising you that it is a fraud prevention measure.

Except for E, they are all privacy violations. The above scenarios are highly abridged versions of cases that have come before the Privacy Commissioner. 

             -If you didn’t do so well on the test, I’d suggest taking a look at the book.