Canada Post Under Review for Violation of Privacy Laws in Personalized Marketing Campaigns

Ottawa — Canada Post said Friday it is reviewing how it uses data for personalized marketing campaigns after the Privacy Commissioner found the Crown corporation was gleaning information from envelopes and packages, in violation of the law.

In a report released this week, Commissioner Philippe Dufresne pointed out that Canada Post used the personal information it collects on the outside of envelopes and delivered packages to create postal marketing address lists, which the company Crown then rents to the private sector.

The information collected under this “Smart Post Marketing” program includes information on where recipients live and their type of online shopping, depending on the source of the packages sent.

However, the commissioner found that Canada Post had not obtained authorization from customers to indirectly collect personal information outside the envelopes it delivers, which constitutes a violation of the Personal Information Protection Act .

The commissioner recommended that Canada Post stop this practice until it can seek and obtain the consent of Canadians. However, the report indicates that Canada Post did not agree with its conclusions “and did not agree to follow up on this recommendation.”

The state corporation changed its tune: it admitted on Friday that the population might have concerns following Commissioner Dufresne’s report and maintained that it will respect the standards that Canadians expect.

“Every day, Canadians trust us to process their personal information,” says Canada Post in a press release. Nothing is more important to us than preserving this bond of trust.

“We are determined to respect the Personal Information Protection Act and its privacy protection mechanisms. So we’re going to look at our data program.”

A restaurant advertisement

Mr. Dufresne’s office opened its investigation following a complaint from a man who had received marketing materials from a Toronto restaurant, but with his name and the full address of his residential building listed on the envelope, including his apartment number.

As part of the “Marketing Smartpost” program, Canada Post uses postal service providers, who manage the sending of mail on behalf of businesses.

Although not all marketing campaigns use recipients’ full addresses, Post Office research indicates that people are more likely to open addressed mail than unaddressed brochures.

Commissioner Dufresne’s report indicates that Canada Post argued that it had already obtained authorization from Canadian households to deliver mail to their addresses “and that it would be absurd to ask them again for authorization to deliver mail to them.” mail”.

Canada Post also argued that Canadians could opt out of the Smartmail Marketing program by going to its website “and that, by not using this option, they were implicitly authorizing it to use their personal information in the context of of this program”.

Commissioner Dufresne did not agree with these arguments.

Canada Post said Friday that while its internal review continues, it will improve “transparency and awareness, in addition to simplifying and promoting” its options for refusing or opting out of customers. “And we will continue to work with the Office of the Privacy Commissioner.”

Commissioner Dufresne’s office said later Friday that it took note of Canada Post’s commitment to review its program following the findings of its investigation.

He adds, however, that his expectations regarding appropriate solutions are already set out in his report. He therefore says he is impatient “to hear the measures proposed by Canada Post to ensure that the privacy of Canadians is protected in accordance with the Act”.

Couple Jim Bronskill

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