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ARTICLE · 03 JUNE 2022

Got A Mobile App? Remember, You Can't Spy On Your Customers

MLT Aikins LLP
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If you're planning to track your customers' movements through a mobile app, you'd better have a good reason for doing so and obtain meaningful consent from your users – or risk running afoul of privacy laws.

CanadaPrivacy
Kristél Kriel
Kristél Kriel
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If you're planning to track your customers' movements through a mobile app, you'd better have a good reason for doing so and obtain meaningful consent from your users - or risk running afoul of privacy laws.

On June 1, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada released a report that found a restaurant chain's mobile app violated privacy laws by improperly collecting "vast amounts of location data" from users. The report was based on a joint investigation by the Privacy Commissioners of Canada, British Columbia, Quebec and Alberta.

According to the report, the app in question tracked and recorded the movements of users every few minutes of every day, even when the app wasn't open. Users were being surveilled as long as their device was turned on.

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