OPC PIPEDA Case #2005-303 (and BCREA #409) — using OTHER agents' MLS sales records in a "top 5 sellers" ad without consent breached Principle 4.3

reference · Scope: business · Status: current

Created 2026-06-21

Summary

Claim. OPC PIPEDA Case #2005-303 (and BCREA #409): using other agents' MLS sales records in a "top 5 sellers" comparison ad without consent breached Principle 4.3. "Merely by using the MLS®, the other licensees didn't consent."

Quote.

"Merely by using the MLS®, the other licensees didn't consent."

Source. OPC PIPEDA #2005-303; BCREA #409, accessed 2026-06-21.

Confidence. Verified.

Caveats. This is about agent personal information — other agents' sales records used in a competitive ad. The principle (consent for using MLS-discoverable personal info commercially) generalises.

Implication / use. Important guard for any product that benchmarks or ranks agents using MLS-discoverable data. Consent doesn't come implicitly from MLS access.

Related entries

Depends on

research-notes Research notes (capture-layer): inside the MLS box — what an Ontario member agent's account exposes, what goes unused, and what they're licensed to do with it (June 2026)

reference Ontario has no substantially-similar private-sector privacy law → PIPEDA applies in full to MLS personal info (only BC, AB, QC have substantially-similar laws)

Referenced by (1)

research-notes Research notes (capture-layer): inside the MLS box — what an Ontario member agent's account exposes, what goes unused, and what they're licensed to do with it (June 2026) · relates-to