Vancouver airport rejects ads offering information on digital privacy

YVR refuses ads from privacy group Do you know your rights if a Canadian border agent asks to look through your phone? A local internet privacy group says the Vancouver airport is refusing to post ads with information you need to know.

Would you know your rights if a Canadian border agent asked to look through your phone?

OpenMedia, a local internet privacy group says Vancouver’s airport is refusing to post ads with information you need to know

“Our most personal, sensitive information is contained on our phones, but our information is given no more rights at the border than a bag of clothes,” said OpenMedia privacy campaigner Victoria Henry

The ad was designed for the end of the SkyTrain line for people to see before they enter YVR.

It reads: "your phone is not safe at the border," with a link to borderprivacy.ca.

"The information we are providing has been legally vetted by trustworthy sources, and is in alignment with recommendations put forward by Canada’s Ethics committee,” Henry said.

OpenMedia’s executive director said a lot of people do not know their rights when face-to-face with border agents.

“If someone asks for your device, do you have to give it to them? Do you have to give customs agents the passwords to your phone? Do you have to let them log into different accounts?” Tribe said.

He said YVR did not provide an explanation to OpenMedia as to why their ad was rejected.

In an email to CTV News Vancouver, a spokesperson with the Airport Authority said “in reviewing OpenMedia’s request to place advertising at the airport, we determined that it did not serve all of our stakeholders.”

“It also has potential to add undue stress to the travel experience,” it added.

YVR also said it provides information on air passenger rights and privacy on our website.

In May 2018, the airport rejected ads from a company that helps travelers get compensated for problems with airlines being grounded.