Google must please explain
2007-09-13 08:37
Ottawa - The Street View feature of
Google Maps, with its close-up views of city streets and
recognisable shots of people, could violate a Canadian law
protecting individual privacy, officials said on Wednesday.
Google Inc introduced street-level map views in
May, giving web users a series of panoramic, 360-degree images
of nine US cities. Some of the random pictures feature people
in informal poses who can clearly be identified.
Canada's Privacy Commissioner Jennifer Stoddart wrote to
Google in early August asking for more details. She said if the
Street View product were expanded to Canada without being
amended, it could well violate privacy laws.
The images were produced in partnership with Canadian firm
Immersive Media Corp, which says it has taken similar street level pictures of major Canadian cities.
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)."
Stoddart sent a similar letter to Immersive Media and the
documents were posted on her website,
www.privcom.gc.ca/. No one from either company was immediately available for comment.
Stoddart did not give either firm a deadline. If Google
launched Street View in Canada without taking privacy laws into
account, Stoddart could launch an official investigation, said
her spokesperson Colin McKay.
"We thought we'd get out in advance of any implementation
and ask them how they were going to take into account Canadian
privacy rights," he said.
Investigations usually end with the commissioner working
with companies to issue findings and recommendations.
"(Speaking) hypothetically, I don't think we'd lean toward
a cease and desist (order), we'd lean toward enforcing privacy
rights. There are many ways of taking photographs of a street
without taking pictures of everyone there - film companies do
it all the time by blocking off streets," said McKay.
Stoddart said that although people could request their
image be removed from Street View, this was not enough to meet
Canada's 2004 personal information protection act.
"From our point of view, if you spot yourself and you
perceive that as a violation of your privacy rights, then the
act has already been violated," said McKay.