Page 17 - CCCA Magazine Spring 2014

{ PROFILE } For Wal-Mart Canada’s associate general counsel, safeguarding information is top of mind at home and on the job. By Michael Dempster hen Dean Dolan talks to his daugh- do over the Internet must be compliant ters about privacy issues and the and as secure as they can be.” Wneed to be careful on the Internet, Dolan’s responsibility for privacy is- they wonder if he’s overdoing it. “I think sues began with the Personal Information they think I’m a little more concerned Protection and Electronic Documents Act than I should be,” he laughs. “Like all kids, (PIPEDA), which f rst applied to retail- they’re on their iPads and their phones. So ers in 2004. Early retail privacy issues it’s something we talk about a lot.” revolved around asking customers to pro- Such discussions come with being a vide private information, usually a driv- parent of 11- and 13-year-old girls. And er’s licence, when they returned an item while they might not completely grasp the without a receipt — a practice that was seriousness of the issue, Dolan does. stopped by provincial privacy commis- As vice-president, associate general sioners. As well, stores were required to counsel and privacy off cer at Wal-Mart post notices stating that security cameras Canada Corp., he is responsible for la- were on site and their purpose. bour, employment, litigation and privacy However, rapidly changing technology matters, the latter making up half of his and the hacking of personal information workload. “It’s whatever needs my atten- has become a retailer’s biggest priority. tion the most,” Dolan says from Wal-Mart Malicious software has made breaches of headquarters in Mississauga, Ontario. private information a reality. Those risks Last December, for example, he was at were highlighted most recently in late the Supreme Court of Canada. It was the 2013 when Target Corp. acknowledged second hearing over Wal-Mart’s 2005 clo- 40 million credit and debit card accounts sure of its Jonquière, Quebec, store, where had been stolen from its U.S. operations. workers had unionized. (The court ruled “Knock on wood,” Dolan says. in favour of Wal-Mart in 2009; judgment “Through luck and vigilance, given our was reserved following the latest appeal.) size, we’ve had remarkably few privacy is- In January, the focus shifted to privacy sues. It’s management always being alive to matters. This winter, Dolan and his team the issue and receptive to making sure they are working to ensure compliance with do the right things for the one million daily Canada’s anti-spam law (CASL), which shoppers in our Canadian stores.” takes effect July 1. The legislation’s intent Particularly important is the personal is to reduce the sending of all forms of un- health and wellness information kept by solicited electronic commercial messages. its pharmacies and vision centres. “It’s “An enormous amount of our privacy about systems,” Dolan explains, “about resources are devoted to making sure encryption and being PCI [Payment Card we’re CASL compliant, and any advertis- Industry] compliant and striving to get to ing, any marketing we do is CASL compli- the highest levels of security we can pos- ant,” he says. “And all the transactions we sibly get to.” CANADIAN CORPORATE COUNSEL ASSOCIATION | CCCA-ACCJE.ORG 17