Incident: Transportation company collects and discloses passengers' personal information
A complaint was made against a transportation company alleging that its sales agents were collecting passengers' date of birth and citizenship for Toronto-to-New York train bookings and disclosing this information to US Customs and US Naturalization and Immigration Service. The company confirmed this practice, stating it was an agreement with US authorities to minimize border delays. The OPC found that sales agents were representing the provision of this information as a requirement. The OPC advised the company to instruct its agents to present the provision of this information as voluntary and to seek consent after booking. The company issued a directive to its sales agents, and the OPC closed the file, subject to monitoring.
- 1Whether the transportation company was collecting personal information without proper consent
- 2Whether the transportation company was disclosing personal information without proper consent
- 3Whether sales agents were misrepresenting the voluntary nature of providing personal information
- Collection of personal information: Practice of collecting DOB and citizenship confirmed
- Disclosure of personal information: Disclosure to US authorities confirmed
- Consent for collection: Company advised to present as voluntary and seek consent post-booking
- Company compliance: Company issued directive to agents
- Complaint resolution: File closed subject to monitoring
Complaint resolved — company took corrective measures
The company agreed to implement the OPC's recommendations by issuing a directive to its sales agents to clarify that providing personal information for customs clearance is voluntary and requires consent.
The OPC advised the company to issue a clear directive to its sales agents stating that passengers' provision of date of birth and citizenship must be represented as voluntary, and that agents may only ask for this information after booking a ticket, with the customer's willingness to provide it to facilitate customs clearance.
This summary is informational only and not legal advice.
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