The company’s app “did not meet its obligations” under privacy legislation in how it collected, used or disclosed users’ granular location data, said the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, following a joint investigation with officials in British Columbia, Alberta and Quebec. (The Logic)

Talking point: The investigation started in 2020 after a Financial Post reporter found the coffee chain’s app was “logging detailed location data” such as when he might have entered Starbucks, Second Cup or other competitors’ locations. “By collecting and analyzing the granular location data of customers without regard to proportionality, organizations create the significant risk that personal information is no longer used for appropriate purposes, but is rather amassed and treated as a mere good or commodity to be exploited, or as a tool of corporate surveillance,” the investigation found. The retailer stopped collecting the data in question when it was notified about the probe in August 2020. The company, owned by Restaurant Brands International, said in a statement to The Logic that it “fully cooperated” with the investigation and the findings do not require it to make further changes. The office considers the matter “well-founded and conditionally resolved.”