Reuters- Tim Hortons app tracked movement in violation privacy laws -Canadian regulator
“Tim Hortons clearly crossed the line by amassing a huge amount of highly sensitive information about its customers,” Privacy Commissioner of Canada Daniel Therrien said in a statement that underscored harms that can result from “poorly designed technologies.”
As Eric Strauss points out in the comments the government hates competition.
Why are you going to Tim’s in the first place?
Don’t blame me. Tim’s is the most overrated fast food joint there is. They’d be out of business if it wasn’t for stupid Canadians.
Starbucks tops Tim’s for overrated crap.
Tim’s has a very safe 2nd place though.
l can scarf down the breakfast farmers wraps by the bucket.
quantity surpasses quality.
l once went to a local all u can eat and proceeded to pack away FOUR dinner plates
and 3 desert plates. my buddy never saw the likes of it.
l hover around 185 pounds.
my metabolism developed from birth in an uninsulated wood frame where winter heat was the kitchen stove. aka convert every calorie available into body heat. adversity paid off big time for this gourmand.
Stupid Canadians will eat anything if you put enough ketchup on it.
Be careful OK, you used the word stupid, don’t want to be associated with the very old white guy.
I am contrite.
Tim’s is the most overrated fast food joint there is.
I think a few places could give Tim’s some competition for that title, but point taken. The doughnuts aren’t bad, but the rest I could easily do without.
Worked for a production facility a number of years back. Deductions were taken from our paychecks so that every two weeks, on payday, we’d get a delivery of donuts, two each, from Tim’s. There were 300-odd people working there at the time, so a lotta donuts every 14 days.
One payday, the donuts show up on time, but they look like scaled down versions of what we had for the previous years. Called them up, complained, “Yessir, we’ll take care of that, sorry sir.” Two weeks later, same issue. Called them again, we were told that Tim’s was “standardizing the sizes”. What kind of bullshit is that? Shrinking them by 1/3 is now called standardizing? What a crock.
Ended up going across town to Lakeview Bakery, no problems with the order, bigger, better, fresher donuts. Only issue was they didn’t have the same selection of types. Who cares? Their standard donuts were fantastic & we bid adieu to Tim’s. Have not been back since then, around 2001. If Tim’s fell off the face of the planet, the world would be a safer place: fewer idiots eating & drinking while driving, cops included.
I call it my vendor standardization. Lottsa names on that list now.
There are a lot of companies whose management simply does not understand how to create and deliver acceptable products and service. Its always entertaining to see something like you describe, wherein internal processes are given a higher priority than the business’ core responsibilities to customers, and the customer’s experience is thereby diminished. As your story demonstrated, its not good for business.
Both the coffee and donuts are far better than Dunkin’ Donuts.
Sour cream plain doughnuts, to go… if you can find them.
I agree, and as you said ‘if you can find them’. Everyone has the glazed ones but all that sugar grosses me out. The plain sour cream and the plain old fashioned donuts are the only ones I ever buy there.
Love the old-fashioned plain donuts. Years ago when I worked in Canada and lived across the border in the U.S., I often took one of our cats with me to the office. (Customs officers on both sides loved her.) She would sit next to me in the passenger’s seat and look out the window while I drove — and she LOVED the Tim’s old fashioned plain donuts (or Timbits — she got a whole one of those). I didn’t let her eat them very often but she would have eaten them every day if she could. She died in 2006 at age 16. She began life abused, and became fear-aggressive, but turned into a wonderful cat.
Nice story. Thanks for brightening my evening.
DB, that one is the funniest thing since Biden getting elected president. A coffee shop tracking you. In one of my many incarnations I had a coffee shop for five years. I cannot wrap my old mind around this terminally stupid generation.
And that is why I don’t have any retailer apps on my phone. Well that and the fact I never go to Tim Hortons. They lost me when they decided that unless you go there you are somehow not Canadian. I was Canadian when Tim Horton invested in a doughnut shop in Toronto which caused great mirth on Hockey Night in Canada.
Any commercial app does tracking, why the hell else would they ‘give’ something for free? Free burger with app, free coffee with app, etc, etc. Stupid is as stupid does.
Don’t want to be tracked, get rid of the damn phone or go with a absolute basic pre-paid phone. Honestly, people are communicating more than ever these days but no-one is listening anymore. Do people really need to update the world about their latest purchase, show watched, fart, etc? Really, they’ve nothing else important to say – if not, then they should just be quiet.
Well … Perkins Coie DOES have an FBI SPY portal in their “bubinga-paneled” offices … with the info going straight to HER server in a basement bathroom ceiling …
I guess coffee SPYING pales in comparison
It’s beyond me how this is not outright illegal. Christopher Wray is a piece of shit swamp-dweller, and he’s been operating a house of prostitution that was constructed by James Comey.
100%
If a Canadian counts Tim Horton’s as a national institution, he needs to be pushed into the path of oncoming zombies.
This is done to save the human race.
I don’t have a phone that accepts apps.
Bravo.
When I retire, my phone is going in the lake. Splash!
What kind of idiot installs a “Tim Horton’s App”?
…or Burger King, or McDonald’s, or Yellow Cab, or whatever.
I guess Caveat Emptor is waaaaaaaayyyycciiisttttttt now.
This way to the Egress.
The same idiots that collect and trade Tim Hortons “Upper Deck” hockey cards like ten year olds on a school playground and who think the digital roll up the rim isn’t a rigged game.
Those guys.
Tim Horton’s gratuitous ass licking of anti oil sands “SumOfUs” was my line in the sand for those corporate pricks who constantly tout themselves as Canadiana but are about as Canadian as Volkswagen.
And how the franchise in Fort McMurray is still operating only proves people just don’t give a shit anymore.
I actually make my own at home. Found some beans I like, grind them up, make a big pot and enjoy. Good toilet paper and good coffee make life worth living.
“Found some beans I like…”
May I ask what brand (name) beans? My favourite beans, Dark Columbian VanHoutte is no longer sold at two Calgary stores. I’m drinking piss now buying experimental bags and then stuck with sh!t.
P.S.
Shame on Tim Hortons. I stopped occasionally buying their coffee in 1996. Spent on coffee makers. This week I’m out looking for a French Press. Already bought a one burner butane burner. Power failure aka brown-outs? Bring it on!!
Nancy, I don’t like bitter or burnt tasting coffee and didn’t want to add sugar either. So I tried all sorts of beans before settling on McDonald’s as my main source. Starbucks true north blend is also good but costs more. Even Tim’s whole beans are way better when you grind them up at home than anything you’d get at the drive through. Though I suspect these all taste quite a bit different than the Dark Columbian you’re used to. I had no idea there was such a wide array of flavours to coffee till I started experimenting with it.
My understanding is that when Tim’s merged with BK they switched coffee providers and McDonalds Canada snapped up the old Tim’s supplier. So McDonalds coffee is the old Tim’s coffee that made Tim’s famous.
Tried it once after someone said McDonalds is now Tim’s –and it’s a meh for me. Thanks anyway.
I will try those brands, thanks. Arabica beans seemed rather bitter.
The politically conservative brand of choice down here in the southland is Black Rifle. I believe Black Rifle was started by a retired military vet after he returned from the land of unending sand. I have yet to try it, as I’m happy as can be with Caribou Coffee, which is a brand based in Minnesota. Caribou has retail stores in some upper-Midwest airports, and is vastly better than Starbucks burnt paint thinner. I know that Safeway grocery stores throughout the Western US stock Caribou.
Thanks. I will try that, Roaddog!
Black Rifle Coffee railed against Kyle Rittenhouse, the Kenosha hero. I’d say their a woke company fleecing the patriots.
President’s Choice, West Coast Dark Roast has been my home brew for at least a decade.
At Shopper’s Drug Mart it’ll go on sale – half price – at least once a month and I’ll pick up 2-4 cans although they’re now cardboard.
Thanks. I’ll try that too.
I find almost any dark roast regular grind made in a stove-top espresso maker works fine. I like them way better than a French press, or drip coffee, or pods. I have a nice stainless steel one, makes a big cup of strong, rich coffee in about 5 minutes, well worth the $40 investment I made well over 10 years ago. One day, I have to replace a gasket, but that day is still years in the future.
Hi—
I see, I’m newer to coffee than tea, I have a stove top espresso maker– will try your suggestion. Thanks.
Buddy, my golfing buddy does the same thing for the same blend.
My wife and I buy Lavazza Super Crema beans from Amazon. A 2 lb bag ranges in price from $26 – 33. We have an espresso machine that grinds the beans and makes the coffee. A wonderful way to start the day. I make a cappuccino and my gal enjoys an Americano.
Lost Aviator coffee – they ship. Very good. PC choice is ok, beans but must be ground up well.
I was late to getting to consume coffee, after 30 and I still only have one or maybe 2 per day.
USED to like McDs when I started drinking it. but generally made my own at home, with various drip machines.
We recently ( last Christmas) tried a counter top expresso machine and I can’t say enough about it. It’s less caffeine per cup, you’ll use less sugar and whiteners and you control the grind as we grind our beans up. The finer the stronger it will taste. The taste is much better than drip or French Press. I was amazed, I packed the old coffee machine in the basement.
People who patronize Tim’s are the kind of people who drink Labatt’s or Molson, mistakenly thinking it’s beer.
Exactly!
By that, you must mean those people who work with their hands, like plumbers, electricians, framers, etc, people who stop for a coffee between jobs and don’t want to pay $6 or it, and other such unwashed plebes, so far beneath you latte-sipping micro-brewery laptop people.
Bullshit stereotype.
…and another late-sipper chimes in, accusing me of the modern cardinal sin of ***gasp*** stereotyping, aka known as drawing on hundreds of man-years of experience.
The prevalence of that sort of sloppy thinking and use of logical fallacies as an argument is proof positive of a dead civilization.
Your rebuttal is six inches of hairy plumber’s crack.
Touche.
Never had a latte in my life. Wish I could say the same about Labatt’s and Molsons.
Yuppers on both points. I’m so old I remember when Labatt’s and Molson’s actually made beer.
I live a few km away from the Labatt’s brewery in south Edmonton. When the wind blows the right direction, I can smell the yeast. Mmmmmmmmm!
I used to work just across 99 Street street from that brewery. Small world.
Whatever. I have friends that drink Bud or Coors Light, and even Export or Guinness. I drink Molson Canadian when I drink beer, and Wisers when I drink rye, and Johnny Walker Black Label or Cognac when I can afford it. I certainly don’t look down my nose at folk who drink stuff I don’t like. Back in the day, I remember hangin out with the old men who drank Labatt’s 50.
My coffee is Maxwell House or Folgers dark roasts, usually, as that’s what goes on sale most often, made in one of them stove-top espresso makers. I have friends who like instant coffee, I don’t look down my nose at them either, but when offered it, I say “No thanks, can’t stand the stuff myself.”
I drink Pilsner so I can look down my nose at people.
Pilsner almost = lager. There is hope for you yet.
German wheat beer is pretty good, too. Crisp, cold drinks…I’ll take a Coors Light at lunch before I’d take a freakin’ Fanta or Orange Crush, or Pepsi, or Coke…
COORS LITE!
AKA Clear Creek creek water.
Bingo, roaddog! Gawd awful! But last I heard the best seller in canada! (Funny – when I spell canada without capitals, it thinks it is miss-spelled.)
People who drink Coors light have no idea what they’re missing. There is lots of actual beer in this world.
I’m in a Negra Modelo, and Breckenridge Brewery Vanilla Porter phase right now. And you guys have Steamwhistle for God’s sake!
Like making love in a canoe. Or on a beach. F’ing near water…
DB, hadn’t heard that one in a while. It certainly fits the moment.
Coors Lite – because water requires no refrigeration.
I first heard that phrase to describe Labatt’s 50.
Nothing like a cold, refreshing fizzy water with a wee bit of alcohol when you don’t really wanna drink and its really hot outside. Perfect beer to go with a working lunch when you do real work in the heat.
A fine example of Mad Magazine’s “Complete the ad” –
“Coors Beer: brewed with Rocky Mountain spring water – lots of it”
Duh! But what does one who downloads an app expect?? 3G Capital has sure wrecked this once-loved brand (and this is no dis on private equity, just BAD private equity). But where is the Privacy Commish’s outrage regarding our government tracking us? (I hope I’m wrong but I can’t remember their even commenting on this – did I miss something here?)
Public sector tracking good! Private sector tracking bad! Sounds like an affirmation from Orwell’s “Animal Farm”
https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/canadians-trips-to-liquor-stores-pharmacies-tracked-via-phones-during-pandemic-1.5890563
It was unstated but understood by all that gov’t’s left the liquor stores open because they knew that if they locked people down, but didn’t let them drink, there would have been riots and violence.
The same government organization that’s getting upset that Tim Horton’s is doing this is OK with the government doing it. I guess they don’t like the competition. At least when Tim’s is doing it to me (rhetorically) they only want to get me to buy more coffee.
“… they only want to get me to buy more coffee.”
If you actually believe that, well, I’ve got a bridge in Manhattan to sell you.
The profits in mining data like this come from selling it to third parties, which often include governments.
I burst into tears reading the comments. You people are so mean. I had to hug my teddy bear, and put on my matching furry slippers.
As a human resources professional, I encourage some people to load up their ‘public face’ cell phone with neat-o gizmo and apps. Of course, their true self cell phone is really a burner. You can have fun building up a straw man identity with your larded down snitch phone. You must be tired of those testicle shaving ads; how about something more entertaining? Woke ads can be really funny. They spend significant amounts of money of them. Too bad you are never going to buy five gallon pails of tofu.
That was my fiorst thought. The government hap[pily does this “for our own good”. I will never load a government app on my phone. Indeed, I am famous for not having my phone on me all the time.
This is why I never use a computer.
Me too.
Great minds, etc.
I prefer to use a faraday pouch.
Works just fine…
Screw the constant: How did you like XXX Place etc..?
I have not spent a dime there in years and vowed to never spend another dime there EVER after they mandated Covid “vaccines” very early on. They also STILL require them for their summer camps. I’ve noticed that two THs have closed in my area…so good riddance !
The app is for half-wits who probably shine poles for a living.
Once in a blue moon I’ll do Tim’s because its handy – near the highway and I have an hour and a half drive.
Their drive-thru is a crapshoot. I never take sugar but they’ll put it in almost 50% of the time ffs. Or they double the cream. Or you’re stuck behind 3 cars of dimwads who are buying three courses of food for four people and it takes 10 fkn minutes to get to the window. And then they put sugar in your fkn coffee.
“The joint investigation by federal and provincial authorities… concluding a two-year-old investigation.”
How much did that all cost? Where are the criminal charges? Where is the big fine?
Corporate controlled bureaucracies protecting corporations from any consequences for their actions. What a frigging scam, the taxpayer gets kicked square in the crotch, yet again.
Justice In Canada:
Step One: Identify a crime.
Step Two: Get your buddies involved in the investigation/shakedown.
Step Three: Take the pay offs for you and your pals.
Step Four: Club some freedom protesters.
Yep. If I have a cracked windshield I have the popo on my arse collecting for Trudeau in a heartbeat. I never donated to the Libs though.
Wonder how much Timmy has given to the Libs?
There are no charges and no fines.
The investigating body was not given that power by the politicians.
“Double-double, and a microchip to go, please.”
Meaning you now have to get a wearable Faraday bag in order to maintain your privacy.
Yet we are forced to trust the government with our medical records…
I do not care what idiots volunteer for.
I do care when serial liars have personal information that you can guarantee the are misusing..
Actually we need to test this.
Time to fake “Vaccination Status cards”.So when the officials state that “You are not vaccinated”.
You can then turn on them,with “You know this how?”
Only by abusing their own promise of completely confidential medical records,can government know your Vacc Status..
And just like “who you voted for” it is “completely confidential”…If you believe anything the parasitic overload tells you…
And yes,even after these last two years some Canadians Believe..
Get your government goo..it is double plus good for you!
Force, and how to use it.
Of course, to even say such a thing is a crime, now.
How dumb do you have to be to use a phone to buy a coffee, or anything else for that matter. I shouldn’t really say that, as a friend of mine buys cars daily using his phone since the dreaded covid crap. He is a car dealer and will buy several while having a beer with me. Me, nope, no phone purchases of any sort.
People who carry smart-phones get dumber and dumber. They have gotten used to be able to look whatever they wanna know up on their phones, and therefore turned their brains off, as they don’t gotta know or remember anything. Even “contact lists” on dumb phones have made people dumber. I remember my little black book of phone numbers, many of which I had memorized.
If you install our virus we’ll give you a coffee and track you forever. Sounds familiar. Same game, new name, must be libs of course.
People who know their systems could get free coffee forever from those aholes, just by installing Lineage OS, this is why the war on “misinformation” and “hate speech” exists.
Lineage OS, do tell.
Its a de-googled form of Android, without the BLOBS.
Takes a bit of work, but most smart-phones can use it.
I guess Tim Horton’s corporate headquarters are at the corner of Blair and Ogilvie in Ottawa. One more reason to avoid them.
the whole tim’s app, shrunken donuts and anything and everything can be poured like bitter bland but boiling (its called alliteration) tims coffee right on the heads of the schddddddrimping bean counters and their corporate take over mentality.