Canada’s federal privacy watchdog is making the claim that Canada Post is breaking the law.
They believe the law is being broken as Canada Post uses information on the outside of envelopes to build marketing lists that they rent to businesses. The watchdog claims that information collected includes data on where the individual lives and what type of shopping they do.
The office of privacy commissioner Philippe Dufresne says that Canada Post had not asked permission from individuals to collect their data. According to the commissioner, this is a violation of section 5 of the Privacy Act and is asking Canada Post to stop disclosing personal information until they can get consent.
According to the commissioner’s report, Canada Post disagreed with their claims and refused to take any action.
The investigation findings were tabled in Parliament this week alongside the commissioner’s annual report.
