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ARTICLE · 05 FEBRUARY 2013

Status Updates - Real Time Notice Recommended By Privacy Commissioner

The Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada and the Dutch Data Protection Authority have announced the results of their coordinated investigation into a mobile messaging platform that allows users to send and receive instant messages over the Internet.

CanadaPrivacy

As I mentioned in an earlier post, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (OPC) and the Dutch Data Protection Authority (DPA) announced the results of their coordinated investigation into a mobile messaging platform that allows users to send and receive instant messages over the Internet.

In addition to the issue of the use of address book information, the OPC raised concerns regarding status update broadcasts.

The app requires a user to enter a status update. The OPC reported that standard messages include "available", "busy", "at school", "at work", "sleeping", "in a meeting" and "urgent calls only". Users may also personalize status updates using 139 characters. The status field must be populated. However, the user could use emoticons or meaningless combinations of characters.

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