Canadians value their privacy and the Canadian Government has placed high value on the protection of privacy for its citizens. With the massive influx of personal information being put onto the Internet via social media and public records, privacy concerns might not be something that many businesses would take as seriously as they need to. Nowadays, businesses must have privacy policies, safeguards and notification procedures in place should breach take place lest they end up in court.

Businesses that collect and use information from Canadians for commercial purposes have been put on alert by the Canadian Court System: privacy violations will be taken more seriously. New developments in the determination of the amount of damages for privacy violations have created a higher possibility for a business to be fined for violating one’s personal information.  Violations under the Personal Information Protection Electronic Documents Act (hereinafter “PIPEDA”) previously had to meet a high standard for there to be an award of damages; namely, the Federal Court had to presented with evidence that the violation was “egregious” before the Court would award damages. As of May 2013, this is no longer the case.

The Court found that there had indeed been a violation of Chitraker’s privacy by Bell TV. In determining if an award of damages was appropriate, the Court considered past cases and precedents. Previous to the Chitraker case, the complainant had to demonstrate a level of humiliation that was caused by the violation; whether the violation had been egregious. But the Court considering Chitraker opined that PIPEDA had no strict requirement and thus, it would be easier to evidence a privacy violation. In the end, Bell TV paid $20,000 in damages to Chitraker for violating his privacy.

Bell TV’s misfortune is a lesson for business in Canada. Businesses’ reputation can suffer from these cases resulting in a loss of customers, connections and bad publicity, to name a few. To assure that your business is safe from such actions, there are steps that can be taken: effective and efficient complaint handling, transparency in respect to personal information, conspicuous privacy policies, staff training for privacy issues and taking privacy complaints from customers seriously.

For assistance in creating privacy-sensitive business practices or dealing with privacy violation complaints, please contact us.