SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
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.
(Score: 2, Offtopic) by Gaaark on Tuesday June 07 2022, @01:54PM (3 children)
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
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
>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
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.