TORONTO - Bell Canada will soon start tracking how its customers use the web and mobile devices, what they watch on TV and when they make phone calls.
Bell says it will begin collecting the data on Nov. 16 to improve network performance, create marketing reports and sell targeted ads on mobile devices.
The data will be collected and collated with what products and services customers pay for, where they live, their gender and age range.
But Bell says the data will not be linked with a customer's identity.
And while customers can opt out of having their data used for personalized ads and marketing reports, it appears they will be tracked regardless.
A spokesman for federal privacy commissioner Jennifer Stoddart said her office has received several complaints about Bell's new policy.
He said there will be an investigation.
Michael Geist, a law professor at the University of Ottawa and an expert in Internet and e-commerce law, calls the new policy shocking.
He calls it a level of intrusiveness and monitoring unprecedented in Canada.
