Tim Hortons is being investigated by Canadian privacy authorities after media reports raised concerns about how its smartphone app may be collecting and using data on people's movements as they go about their daily activities. "The federal privacy commissioner's office considers this to be an issue of great importance to Canadians, given the privacy issues it raises. Geolocation data can be very sensitive as it can reveal information about the habits and activities of individuals, for example, medical visits or places that they regularly frequent." "Since Tim Hortons launched our mobile app, our guests always had the choice of whether they share location data with us, including 'always' sharing location data — an option offered by many companies on their own apps," a spokesperson for the chain said. "We recently updated the Tim Hortons app to limit the collection of location data to only while guests have our app open, even if a guest has selected 'always' in their device settings."

Source: CBC News June 29, 2020 16:50 UTC