{"id":333160,"date":"2025-12-08T21:18:11","date_gmt":"2025-12-08T21:18:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/333160\/"},"modified":"2025-12-08T21:18:11","modified_gmt":"2025-12-08T21:18:11","slug":"investigation-into-facial-recognition-ads-in-toronto","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/333160\/","title":{"rendered":"Investigation into facial recognition ads in Toronto"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Canada\u2019s privacy commissioner has launched an investigation after a social media user noticed ad billboards around Toronto\u2019s Union Station that said they were using facial detection software.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">A <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reddit.com\/r\/toronto\/comments\/1ols0g2\/the_billboards_inside_union_bus_terminal_are\/?utm_source=share&amp;utm_medium=web3x&amp;utm_name=web3xcss&amp;utm_term=1&amp;utm_content=share_button\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.reddit.com\/r\/toronto\/comments\/1ols0g2\/the_billboards_inside_union_bus_terminal_are\/?utm_source=share&amp;utm_medium=web3x&amp;utm_name=web3xcss&amp;utm_term=1&amp;utm_content=share_button\">Reddit user<\/a> posted images of the ads and their accompanying signs last month.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">\u201cThis media unit runs anonymous software, used to generate statistics about audience counts, gender and approximate age only,\u201d the sign reads. \u201cTo ensure privacy, no images and no data unique to an individual person is recorded by the camera on this unit.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">The images are then immediately and permanently deleted after being processed in mere milliseconds, according to the sign.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">At the time, Metrolinx had confirmed to CTV News Toronto that the billboards are found on the way to the bus terminal, not inside of it.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Now, the Privacy Commissioner of Canada\u2019s (PCC) office tells CTV News in a statement that the commissioner, Philippe Dufresne, has opened an investigation into \u201cprivacy concerns related to digital signs installed near Toronto\u2019s Union Station that allegedly use facial detection software.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">The investigation was launched following complaints from individuals, the office said.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" data-chromatic=\"ignore\" alt=\"\" class=\"c-image\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/V42R7T66OZFIHK5VL7HBKABJ6Y.JPG\"  width=\"800\" height=\"533\"\/>Philippe Dufresne Privacy Commissioner of Canada Philippe Dufresne speaks during a press conference on the findings of joint investigation into TikTok at the National Press Theatre in Ottawa, on Tuesday, Sept. 23, 2025. (Spencer Colby\/The Canadian Press) <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">In their statement, the PCC says the digital signs were installed and operated by Cineplex Digital Media (CDM), which was recently acquired by Creative Realities, a digital signage company.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">\u201cThe investigation will examine whether the technology is being used in compliance with the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA), Canada\u2019s federal private-sector privacy law,\u201d the statement said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">No further details will be provided since there is now an \u201cactive\u201d investigation, the PCC office said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Despite the social media attention last month, a spokesperson for CDM previously confirmed to CTV News Toronto that the billboards were installed about three years ago.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">\u201cWe strictly adhere to the guidance provided by the (Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada), ensuring that our technology is used ethically, responsibly and in compliance with all relevant privacy laws and regulations,\u201d CDM\u2019s Jeevan Vivegananthan said in an email at the time.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">With files from CTV News Toronto\u2019s Alex Arsenych<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Canada\u2019s privacy commissioner has launched an investigation after a social media user noticed ad billboards around Toronto\u2019s Union&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":270043,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[712,45,49,48],"class_list":{"0":"post-333160","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-apple-news","9":"tag-business","10":"tag-ca","11":"tag-canada"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/333160","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=333160"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/333160\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/270043"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=333160"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=333160"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=333160"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}