Tim Hortons Sued for Privacy Invasion! Company Denies Wrongdoing, Offers Coffee and Pastries for Settlement

Tim Hortons Settles Privacy Lawsuits with Free Coffee and Donuts

Back in June 2020, the Financial Post published an article about the well-known coffee chain Tim Hortons frequently collecting and updating precise location information of registered users through its official mobile application, indicating that class action lawsuits would be filed against the company.

The report pointed out that regardless of whether users were actively using the application at the time, Tim Hortons was still able to collect registered users' residential addresses, workplaces, working hours, travel destinations, and more through third-party service providers. The company could even analyze users' lifestyles, daily routines, or the time they spent visiting other chain coffee brands. The report also caught the attention of the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada.

Until June 1st of this year, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada released a report stating that Tim Hortons' official application collected specific user location data for the purpose of delivering targeted advertisements and product promotions, but the company never actually used the collected data for these purposes.

The report indicated that Tim Hortons collected detailed user location information through third-party service provider Radar without obtaining user consent and even when users were not actively using the application, which allegedly violated local Canadian laws.

Facing multiple class action lawsuits, Tim Hortons publicly announced two days ago (on July 29th local time) that the company had agreed to settle four of these class action lawsuits, although the settlement plan has not yet received court approval. Tim Hortons expressed their willingness to provide free coffee and donuts to users affected by this incident. They also emphasized that since the allegations made in these class action lawsuits were never proven in court, the settlement does not constitute an admission of illegal conduct by the company.

In addition to proposing the settlement, Tim Hortons also stated that the company and third-party provider Radar would permanently delete user information collected between April 1, 2019, and September 30, 2020. They believe that the proposed settlement plan along with the permanent deletion of user information collected during this period represents a beneficial solution for everyone, as the company is providing compensation with practical value.

Some local media have expressed that such compensation - exchanging a cup of coffee and a donut for users' location information - seems unfair to users. In response, a local lawyer specializing in privacy cases stated that while it's unclear how many users used the application during the 18-month period covered by the case, considering the potentially large number of users involved, although the settlement compensation is minimal for users, it is actually reasonable.

Although the Financial Post report editors pointed out in their article that Tim Hortons collected the same user's location information more than 2,700 times in less than five months without user consent, such allegations were never confirmed by the court. Therefore, the lawyer stated that if the location information collection was not real, users were not actually affected in any way.

Currently, Tim Hortons' settlement plan is still pending review, with the Quebec court having scheduled a hearing on September 6th of this year to consider the related settlement proposal.

Image Source: Internet

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