Google Street View may break Canadian law

By Michael Santo
Executive Editor, RealTechNews

You may recall my earlier posts about Google’s new Street View. Although Google is now allowing anyone to report identifiable faces, license plates, etc., which Google will then zap, Canadian privacy law may not be satisfied by the zap process.

Canadian law obliges businesses wishing to disclose personal information about individuals to first obtain their consent. Stoddart said pictures of people on Street View were clear enough to be considered personal information.

“The images … appear to have been collected largely without the consent and knowledge of the individuals who appear in the images,” wrote Stoddart.

“I am concerned that, if the Street View application were deployed in Canada, it might not comply with our federal privacy legislation. In particular, it does not appear to meet the basic requirements of (the law).” Source: Reuters

We Say: When I posted about the privacy issues, many felt that with all the traffic cams, etc. we have, privacy is a thing of the past. I guess in Canada it’s not as far in the past as here.