Federal (Canada) Privacy Decisions

The Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (OPC) investigated a complaint regarding an equipment store's policy of photocopying customers' driver's licences as a condition of renting equipment. The OPC advised the store that driver's licences contain excessive personal information and have minimal value in theft investigations. As a result of the OPC's involvement, the store discontinued the practice and implemented a less privacy-invasive solution, resolving the complaint to the complainant's satisfaction.

• Appropriateness of collecting driver's licence information for theft prevention.
• Necessity of photocopying driver's licences for equipment rentals.
• Compliance with principles of minimal information collection.

An individual complained to the OPC after an internet search engine continued to display her résumé and personal information, even after she had it removed from the original job posting site. The search engine initially did not comply with her requests to remove the information. The OPC intervened, and the search engine subsequently removed the cached copy of the information using its URL removal tool.

• Right to withdraw consent for use/disclosure of personal information
• Search engine's obligation to de-index personal information
• Effectiveness of search engine URL removal tools