Tim Hortons Doles Out Some Coffee Pocket Change In Response To Location Data Scandal

We've noted for years how U.S. consumer location data is routinely abused by a long list of bad actors, including wireless carriers, broadband providers, app makers, adtech companies, data brokers, police, people pretending to be police, governments, and more.

It's also, not too surprisingly, a problem in Canada.

Restaurant chain Tim Hortons was recently found to have been collecting vast amounts of sensitive location data" in violation of Canadian privacy laws. More specifically, one report found the app tracked a user's location over 2,700 times in less than half a year any time they left home, visited a competitors, or hit a local sports venue, and the restaurant chain mislead users into thinking the tracking would only occur when the app was in use.

Worry not though, as part of a new settlement with the company, it says it will be giving impacted customers enough money for a hot beverage and a free baked good" with a total retail value of $8.58:

Ok so Tim Hortons spent more than a year silently and illegally tracking users through their mobile app, and the proposed class action settlement is ... a free coffee and a donut.

I swear to fucking god. This is real. pic.twitter.com/eu8P7c2kqO

- James McLeod (@jamespmcleod) July 29, 2022

As is usually the case, the payout (accompanied with no formal admission of fault) is likely a tiny fraction of the money gleaned off of collecting user location data and then sending it to any nitwit with a nickel. Here in the States, the overturning of Roe has finally resulted in folks taking concern about the potential abuse of this data more seriously, although meaningful reform still remains difficult to come by.