Fort Simpson's Senga Services pulls customer-shaming Facebook post

A cable company in Fort Simpson, N.W.T.,that publicly posted the names of customers in arrears on Facebook has removed the posts at the request of the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada.

• Fort Simpson's Senga Services outs overdue customers on Facebook

Senga Servicesfirst posted the list of customers with overdue bills to its company Facebook page Monday evening. Jennifer Simons, who works with Senga Services, then posted the list to a number of community Facebook pages.

CBC News contacted the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada in an attempt to determine the legality of posting the information online. In an email response, Tobi Cohen, a senior communications adviser at the office, told CBC that Senga Services had been contacted and "the company has complied with our request to take down the post."

Cohen wrote thatthe Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act"allows organizations to use or disclose people's personal information only for the purpose for which they gave consent.

"There is also an over-arching clause that personal information may only be collected, used and disclosed for purposes that a reasonable person would consider appropriate under the circumstances."

Cohen also wrote that were an individual to make a complaint to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner, the office "could look at investigating further."