Evidence of meeting #34 for Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics in the 40th Parliament, 3rd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was glick.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Shawn Murphy
But do you get the location of the individual using their own video cameras on them, that you have access to, and their GPS system?
Senior Vice-President, General Counsel, Secretary and Responsible for Privacy, Yellow Pages Group Co.
I'm sorry. I don't understand.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Shawn Murphy
On the Canada Eye system, if I were walking down the street and I used it, would it have my location by using video cameras and a GPS system?
Senior Vice-President, General Counsel, Secretary and Responsible for Privacy, Yellow Pages Group Co.
I'm not sure what Canada Eye refers to.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Shawn Murphy
I'm going from the analyst's notes and your own press release. I'll just quote it.
Senior Vice-President, General Counsel, Secretary and Responsible for Privacy, Yellow Pages Group Co.
Which press release is this?
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Shawn Murphy
On March 10, 2010, Canpages launched “a free augmented reality” iPhone application. The quote reads:
The Canpages application enables users search for a specific business category--from local delis and mom and pop bakeries to Starbucks and Tim Hortons--and then shows the direction and distance to all of the businesses in the category in the local area. Essentially, CanadaEye is one application to find everything nearby as well as how to get there in real time.
It also states:
Augmented reality is the latest technology coined for applications that leverage the iPhone 3GS' compass, GPS and video camera simultaneously.
Now, don't ask me to explain all of that.
Senior Vice-President, General Counsel, Secretary and Responsible for Privacy, Yellow Pages Group Co.
No, no. That's fine. I'm sorry. This additional context is extremely helpful. Thank you for that.
I don't know if some of the members here have iPhones, but there is a button on the Canpages application that you can use. I'm more familiar with another one from a competitor of Canpages, YPG. Basically, you use the camera feature of your iPhone, pointing in a direction, and listings are pushed using the GPS features of the iPhone or the smartphone that you're using. Basically, all that it's doing.... The image is a bit of a gimmick, I guess, in the sense that it's not really the eye that is seeing. It's just that the iPhone understands in which direction it is pointing and therefore understands which businesses are located in the direction in which you are pointing.
So just to confirm, it's not strictly speaking the fact that the camera sees a business that it identifies it. It's just that it's geocoded. The businesses are geocoded, and the phones pointing in that direction push the listing that is being provided.
Liberal
Bloc
Ève-Mary Thaï Thi Lac Bloc Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot, QC
Good afternoon, Mr. Glick. I would like to get more information about some of the things you said a little earlier. When my colleague Mr. Laframboise asked about Canadian and American law, you said that there were legal obligations. So I would like to know which takes precedence when you go to do your checking.
Will it be American law or Canadian law when you compare the two? Does one contradict the other? If American law is less precise than Canadian law, which one will take precedence?
Canada Policy Counsel, Google Inc.
I think it would be irresponsible of me to speculate before the analysis is complete.
Bloc
Ève-Mary Thaï Thi Lac Bloc Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot, QC
Who checks those obligations? Is it the commissioner or Google?
Bloc
Ève-Mary Thaï Thi Lac Bloc Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot, QC
When you talked about checking, you said that you had to check your legal obligations. Who does the checking, the commissioner or Google?
Bloc
Ève-Mary Thaï Thi Lac Bloc Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot, QC
A little earlier, you told us that you chose to store the Google Street data in the United States rather than in Canada.
Canada Policy Counsel, Google Inc.
I think it's because we were convinced that having the data in one place was the best way to ensure that it was safe and secure. That was important to us. It was also important, I should add, to the Privacy Commissioner. She mentioned in her report that it was important for the data to be safe and secure and for Google to have stored it in a safe and secure manner.
Bloc
Ève-Mary Thaï Thi Lac Bloc Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot, QC
Are all the data that you have gathered in different countries stored in the same place?
Canada Policy Counsel, Google Inc.
As far as I understand it, that's the case. I should add.... We covered this last time, but I'll just give you a bit of perspective in terms of the amount of data for Canada.
My understanding is that, roughly speaking, it's the amount that could be stored on a USB thumb drive that you could purchase at Best Buy for about $50 in terms of the total quantum of data. The total quantum of data globally that was collected and that we're talking about here would fit on a hard drive that you could purchase for about $120 at Costco.
Bloc
Ève-Mary Thaï Thi Lac Bloc Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot, QC
Thank you, Mr. Glick
My next question goes to Mr. Aubut. You said that you could not give precise information about the technology used by your subcontractor.
Is it possible to provide that information to the committee in the next few weeks?