Another Privacy Fail by a Major Canadian Retailer

by Ben Lucier on November 17, 2010

For many of us, privacy and protection of personal data is a really big deal online these days. Well, I’m sad to report that we don’t have it together in the offline world either.

Last Friday, I visited a major Canadian retailer and talked with one of their automotive reps about purchasing some winter tires. The rep was very helpful and I had no complaints about the service, other than the fact they didn’t have the tires I wanted in stock.

But I was quite surprised when I looked at the back of scrap paper the rep had written me with some details about the tires I was looking at.

The 4″x5″ scrap of paper was actually a work order with another customer’s name, home address, work and home telephone number, license plate number, along with the make / model / year of the car. I’ve included a photo I took of the note, but removed the store name, and replaced the customer’s actual information with generic data.

I’m convinced this isn’t a one time occurrence since the rep pulled this scrap paper from a stack of neatly torn work orders. Good on them for recycling used paper, but bad on them for distributing personal information on the back of their notes.

Although I didn’t have a chance that day, I will be popping in to speak with the store manager to get his opinion on the matter.

In this day and age, every person that comes into contact with personal information should treat it like currency. You wouldn’t leave a stack of twenties laying around, why do you think it’s ok to do the same with sensitive customer information?

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  • http://trafficservicestps.blogspot.com Tim Burrows

    Wow…having worked several years in identity theft, I can tell you that I wouldn’t need nearly that much information to take over someone’s life.
    That is a serious problem that by all means you should be addressing with the retailer.

    • Ben Lucier

      Thanks for the comment Tim. I was just have a conversation with a friend over Twitter about this. His take was that it really isn’t that big of a deal since you could get this stuff via the phonebook.

      I didn’t argue the point that BEING in the phonebook is a bad idea (it is). But phonebooks often list the first initial of the firstname (especially for women). In addition, phonebooks don’t list the business number, which was also listed on this work order.

      Having this person’s business number means I now know their employer, their work hours, their job title, their work address. I could even guess how long their house would be empty after they left for work in the morning.

      The positive side to our daily lives is that we’re often insulated from bad events because it often “happens to somebody else”.

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