Collecting customer data not against Telecom Act: Bell

BCE Inc.’s collection of customer data for its targeted-advertising program doesn’t violate the Telecommunications Act, the company said in a filing to the CRTC. The letter, submitted on March 3, was made in response to a challenge filed by the Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC) and the Consumers’ Association of Canada in January against Bell’s practice of tracking customers’ information and habits for the purpose of targeted advertising. Bell pointed to the collection of data by companies such as Google Inc. and Facebook Inc., and said “these organizations have access to more information about Canadians than Bell does.” “It is also dubious to assert that our Program is somehow inappropriate due to the fact that we charge for our telecommunications services whereas certain other companies that provide completely different services are offering them for ‘free’ to users,” it said. Bell noted that Google charges for some services in the United States, such as Internet and television, and asked if its “use of relevant advertising” should be disallowed on those grounds. In its letter, Bell said that its targeted-advertising program is not contrary to the Telecommunications Act policy objective of the “protection of the privacy of persons,” as PIAC had argued. Bell said that while PIAC had argued that the size and scale of the company implies an unprecedented collection of Canadians’ information, “our size and scale is far from unprecedented.” It pointed out that Google’s and Facebook’s platforms in Canada are “at least triple the size” of Bell’s targeted-advertising platform, which currently has five million users. Bell said it does not “collect more information as part of our Program than we did before the Program was launched. Rather, with appropriate consent we use some of the existing information we already collect and use it for marketing purposes.” Customers are assigned up to 25 interest categories, such as shopping or sports, based on their web activity, Bell said, adding that the categories are populated “without human intervention” through a database. “In other words, nobody is looking at what Alice browses in order to determine that she loves the Habs and therefore should be put in the category that loves sports. For example, canadiens.nhl.com would belong in the ‘sport’ category and www.kia.ca/home would belong in the ‘automobile’ category,” it said, adding that information is kept in the database for 90 days. Bell said it had “implemented significant privacy safeguards into our program,” such as filters to disregard sensitive information, including subcategories such as AIDS/HIV, divorce support or teens. “When prospective advertisers are constructing interest profiles, they do not have the option to create profiles based on characteristics (such as health, religion, lifestyle choices or adult content) related to sensitive personal information or targeted to minors,” Bell added. It added that neither Bell nor a third party can use the program “to associate a particular category of interest with a particular identifiable individual.” It also said no customer information is disclosed to third parties as a part of the program. Bell also said customers were clearly notified that they can opt out; the information of those customers who opt out will not be used as part of the targeted advertising program, though it will still be collected by the company. “Like other carriers, Bell uses customer information internally for billing purposes and for planning and managing networks and services,” Bell spokeswoman Jacqueline Michelis said in an email Tuesday. Customers who opt out will still see advertising, but it will not be based on the data collected, Bell said in its CRTC filing. It added that location information is based on the customers’ billing address and not the location of their GPS-enabled mobile device. In its March 3 letter to the CRTC, the company said that the program currently only applies to Bell Mobility customers, though it may be expanded to TV and wireline Internet customers eventually. Bell announced the initiative last fall, posting on its online privacy disclosure page that it would start tracking subscribers’ information on Nov. 16 “to improve network performance and product offers through new business and marketing reports,” and to sell targeted ads. A day after Bell’s notice went up, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner said it would investigate the program after receiving complaints about it, while in December the Wire Report reported that the Senate’s transport and communications committee could look into the program as well. PIAC has until Thursday to file a response to Bell’s reply. PIAC lawyer Geoffrey White told the Wire Report in January that following that process, the CRTC will then have a number of options, such as issuing a decision, putting out a notice for public consultation or holding public hearings. White said by phone Tuesday that he would not be commenting ahead of PIAC’s official response to the CRTC. — With reporting by Anja Karadeglija at akarad@thewirereport.ca and editing by Derek Abma at dabma@thewirereport.ca

Collecting customer data not against Telecom Act: Bell

Broadcast | March 11, 2014

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Collecting customer data not against Telecom Act: Bell

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