Google Broke Privacy Laws With Networks, Canada Privacy Commissioner Says
Google Inc.’s Street View feature violated Canada’s privacy law by accessing personal information from unsecured wireless networks, a government official said.
The violation was partly the result of a “careless error” by an engineer, and the matter will be closed if the company makes recommended changes by Feb. 1, Privacy Commissioner Jennifer Stoddart said in a statement today.
Spain and the Czech Republic have also said the Street View mapping system could break privacy laws, and there have also been investigations from regulators in Germany, France and Italy. The Mountain View, California-based company, which owns the world’s largest search engine, sent cars into neighborhoods to gather information on local services.
Thousands of Canadians may have given up information such as usernames, passwords and a list of contact information for people with medical conditions, Canada’s privacy office said.
To contact the reporter on this story: Greg Quinn in Ottawa at gquinn1@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editors responsible for this story: David Scanlan at dscanlan@bloomberg.net; Christopher Wellisz at cwellisz@bloomberg.net
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