Google Broke The (Privacy) Law In Canada

Uh oh

Oct 20 2010, 4:21am CDT | by Jordan Cressman

Apparently there's more to Canada than just maple syrup, the word "eh," and Tim Horton's. There's also some very strict privacy laws.

And, according to the country's privacy commissioner, Google broke those laws.

Google is continuing to roll out its "Street View" service on Google Maps, taking its roving car camera through the streets of America's neighbor to the North.

There was only one problem - when Google went around and took 360-degree live shots of every house in sections of Canada, it also happened to be stealing private data from individual Wi-Fi networks along the way.

I know what you're thinking and, yes, Canada does actually have a privacy commissioner. Her name is Jennifer Stoddart.

Stoddart said, "Our investigation shows that Google did capture personal information – and, in some cases, highly sensitive personal information such as complete e-mails, e-mail addresses, usernames and password."

That's pretty stark. However, Google never knowingly acquired any of that info and certainly never posted it online. Nonetheless, Canada isn't happy.

This isn't exactly a new issue. Google faces the same kind of complaint in other countries including Spain and South Korea. Google continues to say it works with local law enforcement agencies to make sure everything is always on the up and up.

Google was ordered to delete all private data it collected during its roving car trips. All the Street View images, however, are fair game and will remain on Google's Maps site.

Via Guardian

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