It was all part of the Relevant Advertising Program, or RAP, and it involved far more than just a credit score. Biographical data, browsing history, and even a person's favourite hockey team would all form a personal profile.

A RAP profile would partly be shaped by the websites viewed. The idea was if a person frequented car websites they would see more ads for cars. The company would also pull information from a person's Bell account to inform targeting.

Privacy experts are conflicted on whether the program was legal. Canada's privacy laws allow for data to be saved for a reasonable amount of time, but not repurposed and saved indefinitely, said McInnes Cooper lawyer and privacy expert David Fraser.

"We're talking about sensitive information," said Fraser. "We're talking about possibly discriminatory information related to socio-economic status and things like that. A whole bunch of warning flags go up."

The company insists it maintains the privacy of its customers because profiles are created through computer algorithms and no customer information is ever shared with outside companies.

In fact, Bell argues RAP is also a win for consumers because they will see online ads for things they are actually interested in.