https://news.yahoo.com/mass-invasion-privacy-no-penalties-151852739.html

One way to figure out how deeply Tim Hortons is woven into Canada’s fabric is a 
cross-border comparison. If McDonald’s, perhaps its closest analogue in the 
Uni...
__--------------------------

"The vector for Tim Hortons’ large-scale snooping, according to the report, was 
its mobile phone app, which was downloaded 10 million times in the three years 
following its introduction in 2017. At first, the app had typical retail 
functions involving payment, loyalty points and placing orders."

"But the privacy commissioners found that in 2019, Tim Hortons slipped in a new 
feature. With the help of Radar, a geolocation software company based in the 
United States, it turned the GPS systems in customers’ phones into a corporate 
snooping tool. Many apps, of course, ask users for permission to access their 
phones’ GPS while they’re actively using the apps for potentially useful 
features like locating the nearest outlet of a store, bank or restaurant."

"The Tim Hortons app, however, went far beyond that, tracking users around the 
clock anywhere in the world — even when the app was closed. It recorded not 
only their geographic location but also whether that location was a house, 
factory or office and, in many cases, the name of the building they were in. It 
even, according to the report, recorded whether they were popping into rival 
coffee shops. The continuous tracking took place despite users being told that 
they would only be tracked while using the app."


Reply via email to