Canada's privacy commissioner has been googling Google, and she's raising concerns over the search engine's new Street View web photo application.
A Google Street View shows the Embarcadero and Mission streets intersection in San Francisco.
(Google) Jennifer Stoddart says many of the street-level images Google is making available on the internet could break Canada's privacy laws.
Street View isn't yet available in Canada but has been expanding in the United States since being launched in May.
Stoddart has written to Google, and Calgary-based Immersive Media — which helped develop the imagery technology for Street View — asking both companies to respond to her concerns.
Stoddart has warned that high-resolution pictures such as those available on Street View could contravene the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act, which came into effect on Jan. 1, 2004.
Of particular concern to Stoddart is that the images on Street View appear to have been collected largely without the consent of the people in them. Street View does allow viewers to request their images be removed. However, by then, Stoddart says, it's too late.
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(Google)
Street View isn't yet available in Canada but has been expanding in the United States since being launched in May.
Stoddart has written to Google, and Calgary-based Immersive Media — which helped develop the imagery technology for Street View — asking both companies to respond to her concerns.
Stoddart has warned that high-resolution pictures such as those available on Street View could contravene the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act, which came into effect on Jan. 1, 2004.
Of particular concern to Stoddart is that the images on Street View appear to have been collected largely without the consent of the people in them. Street View does allow viewers to request their images be removed. However, by then, Stoddart says, it's too late.
Full Story
Do you have a privacy concern with Google's Street View?
More...