Canadian courts appear to be signaling greater willingness to
award damages for privacy breaches. The Federal Court
recently awarded $20,000 in damages against one of Canada's
leading cable companies, Bell TV for conducting an unauthorized
credit check on a (now former) customer. Half the damage
award was exemplary damages to penalize Bell TV for its
conduct. A further $1000 was ordered for legal and other
costs.
PIPEDA requires knowledge and consent by an individual whose
personal information will be collected, used, or disclosed. In this
case, Bell TV performed a "hard pull" credit check on the
complainant, "Chitrakar" without his permission when he
ordered Bell's service. Chitrakar complained to Bell, who
apologised on Chitraker's voicemail and allowed Chitraker to
cancel his service, but refused to take further action, eventually
cutting off communication. Chitrakar filed a complaint with the
Privacy Commissioner, who found the circumstances of the
