Related to my thread on privacy issues with id requirements and credit card issues.
Quote:
Ticketmaster's online sales violated Alberta privacy law
Last Updated: Wednesday, December 19, 2007 | 11:20 AM MT
CBC News
Ticketmaster Canada broke the law when it required online customers to give personal information for marketing purposes before allowing them to buy tickets, said Alberta's privacy commissioner.
By making that consent a mandatory part of the transaction, the international ticket retailer contravened the Personal Information Protection Act, said a release from the province's privacy commissioner's office Wednesday.
The office launched an investigation after an Albertan complained he could not proceed with buying tickets from Ticketmaster's website unless he agreed to the company's "Use of Personal Information" statement.
The customer was particularly concerned about the statement, which would have allowed Ticketmaster to share the customer's e-mail address with event providers for marketing purposes.
The investigation found Ticketmaster's online privacy policy was "complex and ambiguous," and did not give online customers a reasonable chance to decline or object to the use of their personal information.
Ticketmaster has agreed to implement the recommendations from the provincial office, including launching an online check box for Canadian customers to click if they want receive materials from event providers during their ticket purchase.
The company has also posted a revised online privacy policy with a more comprehensible table of contents.
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Ticketmaster's online sales violated Alberta privacy law
