The Canadian Telecom Provider Bell Is Going to Collect Data from Their Costumers.

GE6 Individual Assignment 12-13

‘'Privacy Policy''

Bieke Koppelmans - Class 4 – 122870

The Canadian telecom provider Bell is going to collect data from their costumers.

Bell wants to provide the costumers with advertisements that are adapted to their wants and needs. However, in order to make those advertisements targeted, they need to know the ins and outs of the behaviour of their customers. Bell Canada Enterprises is one of the largest communications companies of Canada. They provide all sorts of broadband communication services for companies, as well as residential customers. Bell wants to become Canada's absolute number one in communication and media services. In the beginning of October 2013, costumers of Bell received a letter that was telling them about the plans of the company: Bell is going to collect very precise and demographical information their costumers and what they are consuming. They will be able to follow what the apps are that you are using, what television programmes you are watching, or what you are searching for on the Internet. Basically, they will know everything about you for as far as they can reach the information (CBC News, 2013). What Bell will be doing is not the same as website advertisers do with using cookies. Different from cookies, Bell will collect data from all possible services and also keep an eye on the patterns from your calling or Internet use. The number of advertisements that the costumer receives will stay the same. This new method will not be increasing the amount of advertising; it will only adapt the advertisements. Bell says that collecting the data will also be used to improve actions against fraud. However, Bell is giving their customers an option not to choose for these kinds of advertisements. Customers will be able to opt out, so that they will not be receiving relevant advertisements. Bell is not saying that they will stop to keep track of your behaviour as soon as you opt out. It seems that for customers that do not want their data to be collected, the only option is to leave Bell and pay the price of an early-termination fee. Bell is planning on starting their new advertisement project on November the 16th of this year and by doing that, the privacy policy will be changed simultaneously (CBC News, 2013). The Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada is now investigating the ethics of this case, after receiving many complaints. But the question here is not whether this kind of data collection is legal. The question is: is Bell being ethical by collecting private data and tracking costumers in order to create relevant advertisements?

Bell is stating that they are not breaking any rules or laws. ‘'We followed every guideline that we have (Oosterman, 2013)''. What they are doing is still legal. However, instead of giving their customers the chance to opt-in they are only giving them a chance to opt-out, not saying they won't be collecting your data. Bell will be collecting demographical data, without sharing them with other companies or services. Bell wants to provide its customer with the best relevant advertisements possible. But this means they are invading privacy of their costumers. People do not want to be ‘spied on'; they want to keep certain things private. Things such as what they look for on the Internet, or what they are watching on television. For now, the policy is only relevant for the 7.7 million mobile users of Bell, but in the future also Internet and television will be monitored (Oosterman, 2013).

I think Bell should have respect for the fact that people want their privacy. A more respectful way of dealing with this situation would be if they were giving people the option to opt-in on this new policy, rather than to opt-out. People need their privacy; they are willing to keep their privacy as much as possible. Bell is now invading their privacy by spying on their communication and media behaviour. Bell needs to respect this and let people choose if they want to be part of this new policy. Openness is very important here. If Bell wants to collect this data information, they should be open about what they are planning to do with it.

Are they just using it to give people relevant advertisements? Or are they also examining these data? Bell needs to be as honest as possible with its costumers, because only then, customers will be able to trust Bell with this data information.

I believe Bell should do what will make most of their costumers happy. Most people want to keep their privacy. If Bell is going to respect this, they are seeking the greatest happiness for the greatest amount of people, which is John Stuart Mill's principle of Utility. Mill's principle balances the benefit and harm to all parties. Which is exactly what will happen if Bell let's his costumers choose for themselves whether they will be part of the new policy or not. Bell can still be doing their adapted advertisements and a lot of their costumers will not feel invaded, because they can choose for themselves. If they will gather the data anyway, there will be no balance because a great amount of people will feel invaded. Bell needs to be as honest and respectful as possible and choose the midway. Let people decide for themselves. They still can be providing adapted advertisements, but only for the one's that see no problem in sharing their personal data.

Bell needs to be loyal to their customers, in my opinion. They are providing a service, so they should do anything to make the service suit their customers best. They need to respect the privacy of their costumers. People agreed on a certain contract for making use of Bell's services.