Mathew Englander says they can --- but only if they get informed consent from all of their customers. And he is certain that Telus Communications, the phone company in his city of Vancouver, never got informed consent from its customers before it started selling names and numbers of Telus subscribers to telemarketers.
Englander believes that, by failing to get informed consent, Telus is violating Canada's privacy legislation.
Moreover, he believes that, under that legislation, Telus and other phone companies should not be able to charge a fee for unlisted numbers. "Telus is legally required to respect your privacy choices without charging an extra fee," Englander says.
Englander, a non-practising lawyer interested in privacy rights, has not had much luck, so far, convincing judges of the merits of his views. Canada's privacy commissioner dismissed a complaint he filed and so did a Federal Court judge.
But later this month -- Oct. 7 in Vancouver -- Englander's appeal will be heard.
"The case has a significant business dimension, since if I win all Canadian phone companies will be affected. The case also could set an important legal precedent for the privacy rights of consumers," Englander writes.