Tim Hortons App Tracked People Illegally, Canada Watchdogs Say
- App data showed ‘where users lived, where they worked’
- Joint probe finds no ‘legitimate’ reason for data collection
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Tim Hortons, the ubiquitous Canadian coffee chain owned by Restaurant Brands International, violated Canadian privacy rules by tracking its customers’ movements with its mobile app even when the app wasn’t in use, a government investigation found.
The company was told Wednesday to shut off that capability after an investigation by federal and provincial authorities found that the Tim Hortons app “misled many users to believe information would only be accessed when the app was in use.”