Privacy commissioner orders company to delete improperly collected information
An investigation by the federal privacy commissioner has concluded tech giant Google violated Canada’s privacy laws when its cars surreptitiously captured private information. “Our investigation shows that Google did capture personal information—and, in some cases, highly sensitive personal information such as complete e-mails,” said Jennifer Stoddart. “This incident was a serious violation of Canadians’ privacy rights.” The company has been given until February 1 to delete the information it gathered when its cars were outfitted to scan and capture data from unencrypted wireless networks. Google Canada has apologized for the incident, calling it a mistake. “As soon as we realized what had happened, we stopped collecting all Wi-Fi data from our Street View cars and immediately informed the authorities,” a company spokesperson said.