The Canadian government has introduced legislation that would tighten privacy protections by limiting how businesses use personal data to set individualized prices and giving consumers greater control over their information.
Prime Minister Mark Carney's administration said the proposed law would restrict so-called surveillance or algorithmic pricing, preventing companies from using a person's behavior, location, profile, or vulnerabilities to charge unfair prices. Artificial Intelligence Minister Evan Solomon said the measure would still allow customer rewards and loyalty programs while targeting practices where data-driven pricing causes more harm than benefit.
The bill would also require companies to provide greater transparency on automated decision-making, allow Canadians to request the deletion of their personal data under certain conditions, and classify children's information as sensitive data. It also proposes the creation of a new privacy regulator with the power to impose penalties of up to C$10 million or 3 percent of a company's global revenue for violations, rising to as much as C$25 million or 5 percent of global revenue for the most serious offenses.
