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posted by janrinok on Tuesday June 07 2022, @12:12PM   Printer-friendly
from the Always-Fresh-(and-tracking) dept.

Tim Hortons coffee app broke law by constantly recording users' movements:

Canadian investigators determined that users of the Tim Hortons coffee chain's mobile app "had their movements tracked and recorded every few minutes of every day," even when the app wasn't open, in violation of the country's privacy laws.

"The Tim Hortons app asked for permission to access the mobile device's geolocation functions but misled many users to believe information would only be accessed when the app was in use. In reality, the app tracked users as long as the device was on, continually collecting their location data," according to an announcement Wednesday by Canada's Office of the Privacy Commissioner. The federal office collaborated with provincial authorities in Quebec, British Columbia, and Alberta in the investigation of Tim Hortons.

"The app also used location data to infer where users lived, where they worked, and whether they were traveling," the Office of the Privacy Commissioner said. "It generated an 'event' every time users entered or left a Tim Hortons competitor, a major sports venue, or their home or workplace."

Tim Hortons scrapped plans to use the app for targeted advertising but "continued to collect vast amounts of location data" for another year "even though it had no legitimate need to do so," the Office of the Privacy Commissioner said. Tim Hortons said it used aggregated location data "to analyze user trends—for example, whether users switched to other coffee chains, and how users' movements changed as the pandemic took hold," the federal office said.


Original Submission

Related Stories

Tim Hortons Proposes Settlement in Class-Action Suits Over Data-Tracking App 30 comments

A while back, we read about how Tim Hortons' app tracked users' movements throughout the day, whether the app was open or not. The tracker noted locations visited, including homes, workplaces, and competing coffee chains.

Now, after an investigation by Canada's privacy commissioner, to resolve a class action lawsuit, Tim Hortons have suggested a settlement:

Tim Hortons says it has reached a proposed settlement in multiple class-action lawsuits alleging the restaurant's mobile app violated customer privacy which would see the restaurant offer a free coffee and doughnut to affected users.

The company says the settlement, negotiated with the legal teams involved in the lawsuits, still requires court approval.

The coffee and doughnut chain says the deal would see eligible app users receive a free hot beverage and baked good.

Tim Hortons says in court documents it would also permanently delete any geolocation information it may have collected between April 1, 2019 and Sept. 30, 2020, and direct third-party service providers to do the same.

One free drink and a donut: We value your privacy (at a couple of bucks)?

Previous story: Tim Hortons Coffee App Broke Law by Constantly Recording Users' Movements


Original Submission

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  • (Score: 5, Interesting) by JoeMerchant on Tuesday June 07 2022, @01:29PM (4 children)

    by JoeMerchant (3937) on Tuesday June 07 2022, @01:29PM (#1251255)

    Circa 2010 I worked at a "let's go to lunch" shop where the crew would eat out an average of 3.5 days per week. A lot of single guys just graduated from Uni, lunch was their "meal of the day" most of the time.

    There were about 20 people in total, and generally there would be a group of 8-10 that would go one place, and another group of 4-6 that would go somewhere else, with the remaining 4-8 not going out for lunch that day. The groups were semi-fluid, with a lot of mixing on a pretty random distribution, and there were about a dozen "top" places that would get the lunch business with a dozen more on lighter rotation. There were people who would never go certain places, and few people wanted to go the same place multiple times within a week. Lunch would often consist of 15 minutes of discussion (sometimes more) about where to go and how the groups would form up. While this is all good social interaction and bonding, lunch itself was actually plenty of that and the constant repetitious decision/debate process got quite monotonous and dull. The "rules" were pretty straightforward, perfect for automation, but the data entry was a bitch. Even in the informal discussion, it took a while for everyone (who cared) to voice their preferences, recent lunches, etc.

    I thought this would be the perfect problem for a tracking app to solve. Everybody's phone makes note of where they displace to within the 11am-2pm window and maps that to the restaurant list. People get to vote their preferences 0-5 on the various restaurants (default to 3), and maybe a preferred cooldown window before re-visiting a given place. For bonus points, the app could NFC to determine who is gathering to decide where to go to lunch, then instead of the meatbags chattering monkey calls for 20 minutes, the app could Monte-Carlo up a list of top preferences for the group gathered here, suggest possible re-groupings to make people happier about the restaurant selections, etc. All that would be required from the participants is installation of the app on every participant's phone, and one person in each group to view the choices on-screen. The group could still decide for themselves, but the choice list would eliminate 10+ minutes of chatter per day about "nah, I went there on Tuesday" and "maybe I'll go with the other group..." On balance, this hour per week multiplied by an average of 14 participants (700+ man hours per year) seemed like a good payback for the effort to develop the app, even if it did have to run on iOS and Android, just for the one shop - and if other places shared a similar culture: profit!

    But... location services are a security treadmill, the apps would require maintenance, and that company was too flaky to be worth the investment of effort.

    --
    🌻🌻 [google.com]
    • (Score: 3, Insightful) by Freeman on Tuesday June 07 2022, @03:16PM (2 children)

      by Freeman (732) on Tuesday June 07 2022, @03:16PM (#1251295) Journal

      This is how we get stupid stuff. Like Facebook, Twitter, and soon to be your "LunchMeet" app.

      --
      Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 07 2022, @05:31PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 07 2022, @05:31PM (#1251329)

        "OutToLunch" app.

      • (Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Wednesday June 08 2022, @02:22PM

        by JoeMerchant (3937) on Wednesday June 08 2022, @02:22PM (#1251537)

        Stupid is as stupid does.

        - Forrest

        As a society, I'd say that Facebook marks some positive progress from I Love Lucy and soap advertisements. Twitter.... eh, not so much. LunchMeat hasn't happened, yet- that would be real progress.

        --
        🌻🌻 [google.com]
    • (Score: 2) by krishnoid on Tuesday June 07 2022, @04:36PM

      by krishnoid (1156) on Tuesday June 07 2022, @04:36PM (#1251313)

      Apps could provide their location information to the user in a visible form [google.com] before or selectively transmitting it off-device. I bet that would go a long way towards that kind of transparency.

      The simplest form of this would be those grocery store loyalty cards. If someone wanted to see how much e.g., Flaming Hot Mountain Dew and pork rinds they bought over the last year, that kind of long-term history (in anticipatory dread of their doctor asking to see it) would be +1 Informative, if not Insightful for them.

  • (Score: 2, Offtopic) by Gaaark on Tuesday June 07 2022, @01:54PM (3 children)

    by Gaaark (41) on Tuesday June 07 2022, @01:54PM (#1251260) Journal

    My father-in-law worked at a shop where no one went to Tim Hortons and he told me 'Timmies' coffee sucked.

    Then he went to work at a shop where they went to 'Timmies'. Now he has 'Timmies' often.

    What DO they put in that coffee??!?

    As for me? Brew your own: better, cheaper, stronger...$6 million coffee...

    --
    --- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 07 2022, @02:34PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 07 2022, @02:34PM (#1251273)

      It's like Canadian Starbucks, I assume it's not at all about the coffee

    • (Score: 4, Insightful) by JoeMerchant on Tuesday June 07 2022, @02:54PM

      by JoeMerchant (3937) on Tuesday June 07 2022, @02:54PM (#1251279)

      >What DO they put in that coffee??!?

      Dopamine, derived from social status signaling.

      --
      🌻🌻 [google.com]
    • (Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 07 2022, @04:48PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 07 2022, @04:48PM (#1251317)

      Tim's coffee now a days is not the same thing. The chain got bought, and quickly the quality went to shit. Ironically when they dumped their coffee supplier McDonalds jumped up and got a contract with the supplier, and now McDonalds Coffee is pretty good. Though my info is pre-Covid, so with the whackos destroying the greater economy, who knows what the supply lines look like right now. Also to note, BK used to have excellent iced-coffee, but it came presweetened from supplier so they couldn't give you no sugar variety.

  • (Score: 4, Insightful) by Snotnose on Tuesday June 07 2022, @01:57PM (7 children)

    by Snotnose (1623) on Tuesday June 07 2022, @01:57PM (#1251261)

    Unless a large enough fine is levied to threaten the Cxx jobs, or actually toss some Cxx types in jail, nothing will change.

    --
    Why shouldn't we judge a book by it's cover? It's got the author, title, and a summary of what the book's about.
    • (Score: 3, Funny) by JoeMerchant on Tuesday June 07 2022, @02:21PM (5 children)

      by JoeMerchant (3937) on Tuesday June 07 2022, @02:21PM (#1251269)

      It's like the environmental / health damages lawsuits, they (the companies) will promise to do better, they will say they're doing better, they will be proven to cause harm, they will continue insisting that no harm is being caused by them, and when the lawsuits start falling one after the other against them with judgements increasing each time, they will eventually cave under the weight of precedent and the inevitability of greater losses than gains.

      It's not personal, it's business. That data is worth millions to them, they'll do whatever they can to continue collecting it until the judgements against them become more expensive. To do less would be violating their duty to the shareholders: to maximize profits.

      Simple minds, predictable outcomes.

      --
      🌻🌻 [google.com]
      • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 07 2022, @02:55PM (4 children)

        by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 07 2022, @02:55PM (#1251280)

        This is why I give apps that permission only for the current use. It's a pain, but worth it.

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 07 2022, @06:21PM (3 children)

          by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 07 2022, @06:21PM (#1251342)

          Worth it? What precious value to you place on your position?

          • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 07 2022, @06:58PM

            by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 07 2022, @06:58PM (#1251350)

            Aggregation.

            The fact that I'm on the same block as Gary's Genital Wart Removal Emporium might be innocuous, given that Gary's corporate neighbours are Frank's Tackle and Bait to the west, and Susan B Anthony Welding and Dog Grooming to the east.

            But couple that information with the fact that I was at my doctor's office one hour ago (technically it could have been any of the 12 doctors' offices in that building), and you have good odds of winning a bet about what happened during that appointment.

            Privacy violation is fucking serious; collection and aggregation of privacy-violating data is even more serious. Even the smallest chunks of data allow accurate inference! There's a whole genre of books devoted to casually solving logic puzzles of this nature.

          • (Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 07 2022, @11:20PM

            by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 07 2022, @11:20PM (#1251416)

            I live next door to Runsaway in Canukansaws, so I am worried about the collateral damage when Auntie Pha pays him a visit on family business.

          • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 08 2022, @02:12AM

            by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 08 2022, @02:12AM (#1251446)

            Honestly, you never really know what companies are going to combine it with and what they'll do with it. It's not as much protection as it should be, but every phone sold in recent times can and will track itself.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 07 2022, @05:48PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 07 2022, @05:48PM (#1251333)

      A "large enough fine"? This happened in Canada. The Privacy Commissioner has no power to levy fines or jail time. He can only ask for an apology and when Tim Horton tells him to go fuck off there's nothing further he can do.

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