Just to be clear on what the Privacy Commissioner said, she raises this issue twice in her report, in paragraph 69, and then in her recommendations in paragraph 72. In paragraph 69, she says: “To this, I would like to add that not only privacy laws, but other applicable laws in the U.S. and in Canada, including laws of evidence, must also be taken into account in determining when to delete the Canadian payload data collected”.
Then she goes on to say--and this, I think, was the point the member raised, Mr. Chair--this in her recommendations: That Google delete the Canadian payload data it collected, to the extent that Google is allowed to do so under Canadian and U.S. law. If the Canadian payload data cannot immediately be deleted, the data needs to be properly safeguarded and access thereto is to be restricted.
What we're doing is precisely what the Privacy Commissioner asked, which is undertaking an analysis of both Canadian and U.S. law in terms of the laws of evidence and other applicable laws, to determine the extent to which it can be deleted. In the interim. we're doing precisely what she asked, which is maintaining the safeguards around the data and the protections for it.
