Can PIPEDA protect you against discarded sensitive data?
One man’s garbage is another’s treasure! This phrase appropriately fits in today’s era, where criminals dig into the trash to seek and retrieve bank and credit card statements, expired credit cards, account statements, cancelled cheques, or any other form of financial documents. The search carried out in discarded material is called “dumpster diving”. Traditional dumpster diving has now evolved to carry out identity thefts and related frauds.
With businesses having voluminous data of their customers, mishandling of even one document can lead to catastrophic consequences. Are companies taking proper measures to tackle the disposal of personal sensitive information? Are PIPEDA provisions protecting individuals against dumpster diving?
Dumpster Diving – is it legal in Canada?
In Canada, dumpster diving is not illegal per se. The garbage in the public domain can be searched by any person. The Supreme Court of Canada in R v Patrick, 2009 SCC 17 that individuals …
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In 2015, a Swiss-based medical company used the photo of a child without her mother’s consent to propagate pre-natal tests for down syndrome. It was a shocking incident as the personal information of the child who was a Canadian citizen went viral on social media. What remedies did the family have under Canadian law to remove the content about their child?