Privacy in Doubt: An Empirical Investigation of Canadians' Knowledge of Corporate Data Collection and Usage Practices

• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/cjas.1494
• Date: 01 June 2019
• Author: Ekaterina Bogdanov,Marshall David Rice
• Published date: 01 June 2019

Privacy in Doubt: An Empirical Investigation of

Canadians’Knowledge of Corporate Data

Collection and Usage Practices

Marshall David Rice*

York University

Ekaterina Bogdanov

York University

Abstract

We investigate Canadians’level of awareness of the ways

in which businesses collect and use their data via existing

and emerging technologies, including facial and voice rec-

ognition, mobile location tracking and the Internet of

Things. In a survey of 1,005 Canadians, we found that

many respondents are ill informed about how their data

are being collected and used. Such low awareness of data

practices is partially explained by the shortcomings of the

“privacy notice.”We suggest further research into alterna-

tive methods of informing Canadians about corporate data

practices and of enhancing individuals’control of private

data in today’s increasingly connected and mobile world.

Copyright © 2018 ASAC. Published by John Wiley &

Sons, Ltd.

Keywords: privacy, Internet of Things, data collection,

emerging technologies, privacy notice

Résumé

Dans cet article, nous examinons le niveau de sensibilisation

des Canadiens aux façons dont les entreprises recueillent et

utilisent leurs données au moyen des technologies existantes

et émergentes telles que la reconnaissance faciale et vocale,

la localisation mobile et l’Internet des objets. Dans un

sondage mené auprès de 1 005 Canadiens, nous constatons

que de nombreux répondants sont mal informés sur la façon

dont leurs données sont recueillies et utilisées. Cette faible

sensibilisation aux pratiques en matière de données

s’explique en partie par les manquements inhérents à l’"avis

de conf‌identialité". Nous suggérons de poursuivre la

recherche sur d’autres méthodes af‌ind’informer les

Canadiens sur les pratiques en matière de données

d’entreprise et pour aider les particuliers à mieux contrôler

leurs données privées dans un monde de plus en plus

branché et mobile. Copyright © 2018 ASAC. Published by

John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Mots-clés: vie privée, Internet des objets, collecte de

données, technologies émergentes, avis de conf‌identialité.

Introduction

Companies today are collecting data in ways that would

have been unimaginable just a few years ago. In addition to

the well-established practice of tracking a person’s web

browsing behaviours, newer methods, including facial and

voice recognition, location tracking via GPS, beacons, or

Wi-Fi ping, and emotional recognition, are increasingly

being utilized. The number of data collection points has also

increased with the proliferation of smartphones, wearable

devices, and the emerging Internet of Things.

Despite the changes in the technological landscape, the

regulatory landscape has largely remained the same since the

1970s. For almost 50 years, consumer privacy worldwide

has been governed by a framework called Fair Information

Practice Principles (FIPPs) (Bruening & Culnan, 2016).

The underlying goal of FIPPs is to oblige businesses to

disclose enough information about their data practices to

allow consumers to make informed decisions. This approach

precipitated research into consumers’knowledge of how

businesses’data practices impact individuals’privacy.

Primarily, such research looked at consumer knowledge of

legal limits on data collection by businesses (Turow, King,

Hoofnagle, Bleakley, & Hennessy, 2009; Park, 2013). Lim-

ited research also explored Americans’objective knowledge

of some privacy-impacting corporate data practices related

We thank Ann Cavoukian, Distinguished Expert-in-Residence, Privacy by

Design Centre of Excellence at Ryerson University for her thoughts and di-

rection. We also acknowledge f‌inancial support from the Osgoode@50

Fund at York University.

*Please address correspondence to: Marshall David Rice, Associate

Professor, Schulich School of Business, York University, 4700 Keele

Street, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M3J 1P3. Email: mdrice@schulich.

yorku.ca

Canadian Journal of Administrative Sciences

Revue canadienne des sciences de l’administration

36: 163–176 (2019)

Published online 7 May 2018 in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com) DOI: 10.1002/CJAS.1494

Can J Adm Sci

36(2), 163–176 (2019)Copyright © 2018 ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. 163