Federal (Canada) privacy & access decisions

An individual complained that an equipment store required a scanned copy of his driver's license and a photograph as a condition for renting equipment. The store justified this practice by citing past losses of expensive rental equipment. The OPC informed the store that collecting driver's license information in this manner was generally inappropriate due to the excessive personal information contained on the license and its limited value in theft investigations. The OPC provided guidance on appropriate collection practices. As a result of the OPC's intervention, the store implemented a less privacy-invasive solution and trained its staff. The complainant was satisfied with the outcome.

• Whether requiring a scanned copy of a driver's license and a photograph for equipment rental constitutes appropriate collection of personal information under PIPEDA
• Whether the collection of driver's license information is justified for addressing customer theft

An individual posted her résumé on a job website, which included her address. After having the job website remove the information, she discovered her résumé was still searchable via an Internet search engine. The individual contacted the search engine's Web administrator multiple times to request removal of her personal information, but the search engine did not comply. She then filed a complaint with the OPC. The OPC intervened directly with the search engine, which subsequently removed the cached copy of the individual's information from its search results using its URL removal tool. The complainant was satisfied with the outcome, and the complaint was closed.

• Whether an Internet search engine was obligated to remove cached personal information after the original source was deleted
• Whether the search engine's refusal to remove the information constituted a contravention of PIPEDA