A recent survey conducted by CBC Market Research in Ontario revealed that some technicians who repair customers' mobile phones and laptops take the opportunity to browse customers' information and photos, even though the repairers themselves did not need it to open the documents.

With the help of computer experts, the reporter installed software to record and track operating behaviors on mobile phones and laptops sent for repair, and downloaded some fake personal information and semi-naked personal photos of two models. Naturally, faults in mobile phones and laptops are also man-made.

To make the test more representative, the sizes of the twenty selected repair shops ranged from large to small, including well-known national chains.

It appears that four of the stores did not open the phones for repair at all. Among the remaining sixteen stores, technicians in nine of them sneaked a look at customers' private information, such as social media accounts and search history. One technician even downloaded some photos via USB.

For her part, Ann Cavoukian, former Privacy Commissioner of Ontario, stated that the behavior was shocking. The Canadian Privacy Commissioner called for an investigation.