Targeted advertising has broken containment from your Instagram feed and made it to the real world.
Driving the news: Digital billboards outside Toronto’s Union Station Bus Terminal have caused a stir after a Reddit user pointed out they use facial detection software to determine the age and gender of passers-by to choose which ads to display.
- Though they’ve only recently sparked discourse, Cineplex Digital Media (CDM), the operator of the billboards, said that they have been in place for around three years.
Zoom in: Unsurprisingly, some commuters are upset that their faces were scraped in order to give them ads about food options without meaningful consent. And even though CDM deletes the data immediately, it still has to be stored somewhere, if just for an instant.
- CDM was also recently acquired from Cineplex by the U.S.-based Creative Realities, raising new concerns that this potential data is now collected by a foreign firm.
Why it matters: CDM reportedly said it consulted with Canada’s privacy commissioner to ensure the billboards were above board, but that doesn’t exactly smooth out concerns. Canada has no unifying laws for the use of facial recognition technology, instead relying on a patchwork of existing regulations to govern it, leaving a serious gap in privacy protections.
What’s next: Bill C-27, an overarching tech bill proposed back in 2022, included new measures to govern facial recognition technology, but it’s currently stuck in limbo.—QH