OPC investigates Tim Horton’s mobile ordering app over privacy concerns

“The federal Privacy Commissioner’s office considers this to be an issue of great importance to Canadians given the privacy issues it raises,” the OPC said in a news release. (File photo: @dannywanni/Unsplash)

The mobile ordering application of Tim Hortons is now being investigated over concerns about how it collects and uses data of users’ movements.

The Office of the Privacy Commissioner (OPC), along with Commission d’accès à l’information du Québec (CAI), Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner for BC (OIPC BC), and Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Alberta (OIPC AB), will be conducting the investigation to determine whether or not Tim Hortons is complying with the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA).

The OPC will specifically look into whether or not the company has the consent of app users to collect and use their geolocation data which can reveal their activities such as medical visits or other places where they frequently go.

“The federal Privacy Commissioner’s office considers this to be an issue of great importance to Canadians given the privacy issues it raises,” the OPC said in a news release.

No further details have been given as the case is an active investigation, the OPC added.

In a statement obtained by the media, Tim Hortons said they will cooperate with the OPC with its investigation and that they are “confident” that the issue will be resolved.

“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,” the company 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,” it added.

Since the start of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, a lot of consumers rely on mobile food delivery applications as these give them more options and convenience.

Tim Hortons previously launched a new option on its app wherein orders will be delivered right to the customer’s vehicle.

Using its “curbside pickup” option, customers will just have to place their orders on the Tim Horton’s app, describe in the app the vehicle they are using, inform the shop that they arrived at Tim Hortons by pressing the “I’m Here” button, and it will be the staff members who will bring the order to the customer’s vehicle so they won’t have to get out.