November 2025 — Now
TL;DR: Cineplex Digital Media (CDM) makes digital billboards with cameras performing facial detection.
In early November, a Redditor discovered that ads at Union Station Bus Terminal have tiny cameras attached. The small privacy notice on the ads indicated that they run “anonymous software” to “generate statistics about audience counts, gender and approximate age”. Visiting their website tells us that they perform facial detection on anyone nearby!
The privacy notice in question.
CDM Cineplex Digital Media
This media unit runs anonymous software, used to generate statistics about audience counts, gender and approximate age only.
To ensure your privacy, no images and no data unique to an individual person is recorded by the camera in this unit. Images are processed in a few milliseconds before being immediately and permanently deleted.
More information on the anonymous software and our Privacy Policy can be found at
www.cdmexperiences.com/information-on-ava
or scan the QR code below.
News agencies quickly covered the issue, with articles coming out at Now Toronto, the Toronto Star, CTV News and Global News.
Close up of the camera on top of the billboard.
Volunteers at TfD have written an open letter to CDM. Organizations including OpenMedia, TTCriders and More Transit Southern Ontario have signed on, calling for CDM to answer our privacy concerns.
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