better look around now you know you're losing everything Recently I was attempting to purchase some gift certificates from an international hotel chain. It was a company purchase, to thank our Board member for hosting the BBQ bonanza last week. When I telephoned this hotel's customer service line, I was told that since our desired purchase amount was over $500, we would need to include a photocopy of the front and back of the credit card and driver's license of the person making the purchase. I told the woman I spoke with that we would likely not send the driver's license and she got a bit snooty with me - "this is our policy and you have to do what we say" or whatever.

From my limited exposure to the subject area, I've become aware that in Canada (and in the provinces individually) we have some reasonably solid privacy laws in place. It just so happens that my boss, in addition to having his LLB, recently completed his Masters of Laws (LLM), and his study area was the privacy act. I know that he typically resists sending a copy of his driver's licence, and so we drafted a letter with the following text:

"...I further understand that you have also requested a copy of my driver’s license in order to complete my transaction, but I question the reasonableness of this policy and believe that it violates privacy legislation in Alberta. Specifically, Section 7(2) of the Personal Information Protection Act (Alberta) clearly states that "an organization shall not, as a condition of supplying a product or service, require an individual to consent to the collection, use or disclosure of personal information beyond what is necessary to provide the product or service"."

We received the gift certificates with no questions asked after that letter. I thought I would share this with all of you for your own interest and so you know that you can legitimately resist a request such as this, even when it comes from a large corporation, and even if they think they have a right to do this because they've successfully done it thus far. Bob told me that Canadian Tire recently got in a bit of trouble for some of their practices. Companies gotta watch out for this. At my company we're all about compliance with privacy laws - at least, we're getting there. It's a complicated area.  | ¶ 4:54 p.m.