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Privacy investigation finds 5 million shoppers' images collected at malls across Canada – CTV News

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OTTAWA —
Without customers’ knowledge, more than five million images of Canadian shoppers’ were collected through facial recognition software used by Cadillac Fairview, a parent company of malls across the country, according to an investigation by privacy officials.

The federal privacy commissioner reported Thursday that Cadillac Fairview contravened federal and provincial privacy laws by embedding cameras inside digital information kiosks at 12 shopping malls across Canada, and captured users’ images without their consent.

The facial recognition software installed in Cadillac Fairview’s “wayfinding” directories was called “Anonymous Video Analytics (AVA) and through cameras installed behind protective glass, was used in Canadian malls for a brief testing period in 2017 and then was in-use between May and July of 2018.

The software took temporary digital images of the faces of any individual within the field of view of the camera inside the directory and converted the images into biometric numerical representations of each face and used that information to compile demographic information about mall visitors.

According to the report, the technology was used in directories at the following locations:

  • CF Market Mall in Alberta
  • CF Chinook Centre in Alberta
  • CF Richmond Centre in British Columbia
  • CF Pacific Centre in British Columbia
  • CF Polo Park in Manitoba
  • CF Toronto Eaton Centre in Ontario
  • CF Sherway Gardens in Ontario
  • CF Lime Ridge in Ontario
  • CF Fairview Mall in Ontario
  • CF Markville Mall in Ontario
  • CF Galeries d’Anjou in Quebec
  • CF Carrefour Laval in Quebec

According to a statement from Privacy Commissioner of Canada Daniel Therrien, the company said the goal of its cameras was to “analyze the age and gender of shoppers and not to identify individuals.”

The corporation said that it did not collect personal information because the images were briefly looked at and then deleted, however the information generated from the images was being stored by a third-party contractor called Mappedin, which Cadillac Fairview said it was unaware of.

“When asked the purpose for such collection, Mappedin was unable to provide a response, indicating that the person responsible for programming the code no longer worked for the company,” reads the report.

Therrien notes in his report that Cadillac Fairview not being aware of Mappedin’s storage of the information “compounded the risk of potential use by unauthorized parties or, in the case of a data breach, by malicious actors.”

In an interview on CTV’s Power Play, Deputy Commissioner Brent Homan called it a “massive invasion of privacy” and not one that shoppers would have expected while at the mall. Homan said that one of the lessons Canadians should take away from this report is that facial recognition software is available for companies to use, and while they encourage entities to ask for consent before deploying it on the public, that’s not always the case. 

Cadillac Fairview—one of the largest owners and operators of retail and other properties in North America—“expressly disagreed” with the investigation’s findings, telling the commissioners that there were decals placed on shopping mall entry doors noting their privacy policy.

These stickers directed visitors to visit guest services to obtain a copy of the company’s privacy policy, but when the investigators asked a guest services employee at the Eaton location in Toronto, the employee was “confused by the request” and so Therrien found the stickers to be an “insufficient” measure.

“Shoppers had no reason to expect their image was being collected by an inconspicuous camera, or that it would be used, with facial recognition technology, for analysis,” said Therrien in a statement. “The lack of meaningful consent was particularly concerning given the sensitivity of biometric data, which is a unique and permanent characteristic of our body and a key to our identity.”

The investigation was launched in 2018, following several media reports about information kiosks in malls being equipped with unmarked cameras to monitor visitor demographics. Their examination in this case included visiting Cadillac Fairview’s Toronto headquarters to interview key personnel, viewing the AVA technology inside the wayfinding directories in action, and extracting records from the directories for forensic analysis.

The existence of the software came to light after a user posted an image to Reddit of a display screen at the CF Chinook Centre in Calgary showing coding language including “FaceEncoder” and “FaceAnalyzer.”

Commissioner Therrien’s office worked with Alberta Information and Privacy Commissioner Jill Clayton as well as the Information and Privacy Commissioner of British Columbia Michael McEvoy on the investigation.

“Not only must organizations be clear and up front when customers’ personal information is being collected, they must also have proper controls in place to know what their service providers are doing behind the scenes with that information,” Clayton said in a statement.

The trio of commissioners have expressed concern that the company hasn’t accepted their request to commit to ensuring meaningful and express consent is obtained from shoppers in the future should it choose to redeploy similar technology in the future.

In a statement provided to CTV News, Cadillac Fairview notes that the issue has been resolved, the data deleted, and the cameras have been deactivated. As well, the facial recognition software is no longer in use, but the company says it will not commit to its approach to “hypothetical future uses of similar technology.”

“The five million representations referenced in the OPC report are not faces. These are sequences of numbers the software uses to anonymously categorize the age range and gender of shoppers in the camera’s view,” the company said. “We thank the Privacy Commissioner for the report and recommendations on how to further strengthen our privacy practices and agree that the privacy of our visitors must always be a top priority.” 

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Carolina Panthers’ early-season struggles not surprising to Proline players

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It has been a difficult start to the NFL season for quarterback Bryce Young and the Carolina Panthers.

Carolina has dropped its opening two games after Sunday’s 26-3 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers. And Young, the first player taken in the ’23 NFL draft, was 18-of-26 passing for 84 yards with an interception while being sacked twice.

As a result, veteran Andy Dalton will start Sunday when Carolina faces the Las Vegas Raiders (1-1).

According to the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp., the Chargers’ win was the most accurately predicted moneyline selection by Proline bettors. A whopping 92 per cent of wagers were on Los Angeles beating Carolina with 92 per cent also picking the Chargers to cover -4.5.

In other action that went in favour of Proline bettors: Kansas City edged Cincinnati 26-25 (86 per cent correctly selected the Chiefs to win); Houston got past Chicago 19-13 (81 per cent); the New York Jets defeated Tennessee 24-17 (78 per cent); Pittsburgh beat Denver 13-6 (76 per cent), Washington beat the New York Giants 21-18 (73 per cent); and Seattle toppled New England 23-20 (62 per cent).

However, only five per cent of bettors had the Raiders upsetting Baltimore 26-23.

And there was one winner of Proline’s second week main NFL pool of $407,613.

In NFL futures bets after the second week of the season, the odds for offensive player of the year got shorter for running backs Breece Hall (Jets) and Bijan Robinson (Atlanta) and Detroit receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown. But they got longer for running backs Kyren Williams (Rams), Christian McCaffrey (San Francisco) and Jonathan Taylor (Colts).

Quarterbacks Bo Nix (Denver), Jayden Daniels (Washington) and Caleb Williams (Chicago) all had their odds for offensive rookie of the year go up while they went down for running back Ray Davis (Buffalo), tight end Brock Bowers (Raiders) and receiver Malik Nabers (Giants).

Quarterbacks Patrick Mahones (Chiefs), Aaron Rodgers (Jets) and Jalen Hurts (Eagles) all had their odds for regular season MVP go up. But quarterbacks Jordan Love (Packers), Lamar Jackson (Baltimore) and Joe Burrow (Cincinnati) all saw theirs go down.

Kansas City, Philadelphia and Houston had their Super Bowl odds increase while Green Bay, Baltimore and Cincinnati all decreased.

Not surprising, the week’s top events were all NFL games. In order, they were; Buffalo-Miami, Chicago-Houston, Cincinnati-KC, Raiders-Ravens; and Saints-Cowboys.

A Proline retail player cashed in a $26,183 winner from a $10 bet on a 12-leg major-league baseball parlay. Another won $24,602 from a $10 wager on a 12-leg NFL parlay.

A third received $1,737 from a $3 bet on a six-leg NFL parlay.

A digital bettor earned $2,927 from a $25 bet on a five-leg NFL parlay while a second had a $704.35 return from a $1 wager on a seven-leg NFL parlay.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.



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Detroit Lions coach Dan Campbell is selling his house to seek more privacy

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BLOOMFIELD HILLS, Mich. (AP) — Lions coach Dan Campbell is selling his suburban Detroit home to get more privacy.

“There’s plenty of space, it’s on two acres, the home is beautiful,” Campbell told Crain’s Detroit Business. “It’s just that people figured out where we lived when we lost.”

He didn’t elaborate.

Campbell and wife Holly listed the 7,800-square-foot house in Bloomfield Hills for $4.5 million this week. A deal was pending within 24 hours, Crain’s reported.

Campbell was hired by the Lions in 2021. After a 3-13-1 record that season, the team has become one of the best in the NFL, reaching the NFC championship game last January.

Campbell’s home was built in 2013 for Igor Larionov, a Hockey Hall of Fame member who played for the Detroit Red Wings.

The likely buyers are “huge” Lions fans, said Ashley Crain, who is representing Campbell and the buyers in the sale.

___

AP NFL:

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.



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How to recoup costs when you travel to an event that gets cancelled

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Ariella Kimmel and Mandi Johnson were grabbing a bite to eat in Vienna, when their August trip to the Austrian capital was upended.

The Canadian duo had travelled to the city to see Taylor Swift in concert only to learn her shows would be cancelled because of two men plotting to launch an attack on fans outside the venue, Ernst Happel Stadium.

While Kimmel and Johnson were disappointed they weren’t going to be able to see Swift perform, they made the most of the remainder of their trip. However, the experience serves as a buyer’s beware for Canadians considering jet setting to see their favourite artists or teams.

“If you’re travelling to these concerts, it’s really hard to protect yourself,” said Kimmel, a Toronto-based vice-president at a public affairs firm who had previously travelled with Johnson to see Swift in Las Vegas, Nashville and Stockholm.

Such trips can make lifelong memories when they go off without a hitch, but cancellations and rescheduled events are common because of artist illnesses, poor ticket sales, security threats, unruly weather and natural disasters.

In the last year alone, Jennifer Lopez and the Black Keys scuttled touring plans after tickets had been sold, while Bruce Springsteen, Usher and Pink had to tell fans they couldn’t take the stage mere hoursbefore show time.

Between airfares, hotels, travel expenses and tickets, last-minute cancellations can leave globe-trotting eventgoers out hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars.

“Regrettably, unpredictability has always been a reality of the industry but it’s increasingly common that there might be things that are going to interrupt your plans, especially plans that you’re really excited about,” said Jenny Kost, the Calgary-based global director of strategic sales initiatives at Corporate Traveller Canada.

“It’s a tricky one because the airline or hotel understands the reason behind your travel but its likelihood of happening or not happening is a little bit outside of their purview.”

Because Swift is known to power through shows even when sick, Kimmel never imagined a concert she was headed to would ever be cancelled, but she always booked plane tickets and hotels that could be rescheduled or refunded — a move she recommends to others travelling for events.

“It’s like common sense, you never know what’s going to happen,” Kimmel said.

However, making use of the rescheduling and refund options her hotel booking and airline tickets had weren’t an option for Kimmel this time because she had already been in Austria for a few days and had very little of her stay left when Swift cancelled.

Had the show been nixed before Kimmel left home, the flexibility baked into the bookings would have been useful, though Kost said such arrangements aren’t cheap.

“There is a cost associated with that that’s not insignificant,” she warned, estimating these kinds of bookings can add hundreds of dollars to your bill and have lots of quirks in the fine print.

The better bet is travel insurance, Kost said. It’s often cheaper than flexible fares and hotel bookings and can reimburse customers for accommodations and flights they have to drop or swap when an event gets cancel or an emergency strikes.

Kost opted for such insurance when she journeyed to Paris to see Swift over the summer and bought it again in a cab on her way to Mexico for a wedding. The insurance cost her about $150 for a week, but when she had to extend her stay because she fell ill, it covered the cost of all of her accommodations.

She doesn’t encourage people to wait until the last minute to buy the insurance like she did because buying it early can provide some reprieve when an event you’re travelling to is cancelled well in advance.

Travel costs aside, people heading out-of-town for events that wind up cancelled also have to consider whether they will get the money they spent on entry fees and tickets back.

In Kimmel and Johnson’s case, they paid Ticketmaster about $300 per seat. They learned just after the cancellation that they would be refunded — but not for an $85 transaction fee they were charged when purchasing the tickets.

“We paid $85 to not see her but I guess that in the grand scheme of what we were going to pay, it’s not a lot at all,” Kimmel said.

They did not opt to buy insurance on their tickets, which Ticketmaster offers through Allianz Global Assistance for $8, plus tax. Allianz’s vice-president of marketing and insights Dan Keon said the insurance offers coverage up to $1,000 per ticket.

In addition to offering refunds if an event is cancelled by a venue or promoter, the coverage can provide a reimbursement for a variety of situations. Those include if you are facing a serious medical issue or death, have a family member in life-threatening condition, are summoned by the military or are delayed in arriving at the venue because of a common transportation carrier.

If you’re going to opt into the insurance, Keon said review the terms ahead of time, so you understand exactly what scenarios you will be covered in.

The insurance, for example, can’t be used in the event of a pandemic, war or natural disaster.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024.



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