Mobile Apps: What Businesses Should Know A Year After The Tim Hortons Data Tracking Scandal

Many businesses are tapping into the digital economy by creating mobile apps to enhance customer experience, build brand awareness, and boost marketing outcomes, which often includes collecting (sometimes very detailed) information from users. However, creating and deploying these apps comes with responsibility and accountability regarding the collection and use of user personal information. Non-compliant privacy practices can tarnish brand reputation and expose companies to regulator and public scrutiny.

This was Tim Hortons' experience last year, when a joint investigation by the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada ("OPC"), the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Alberta, the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of British Columbia, and the Commission d'accès à l'information of Quebec (collectively, the "Commissioners") found that the Tim Hortons app was collecting vast amounts of users' geolocation data every few