Canpages Inc. Clarifies Privacy Policy for Street Scene Photos

VANCOUVER - Canpages Inc., Canada's largest independent local search firm and directory publisher, clarified today the privacy policy for its Street Scene search feature.

Canpages' Street Scene provides panoramic street-level views of a city so that users can not only pinpoint their search results on a map, but also see street level photos of their search results in the context of the local environment. To date, Canpages has captured panoramic views of Vancouver, Whistler and Squamish, B.C. streets and has plans to roll the functionality out to more cities across the country in the coming months.

The Street Scene service has been very well received by consumers and tourists. At the same time, Canpages considers respect of privacy a major priority for its services and wants to make sure the public understands the privacy policy for its Street Scene photos:

1. Canpages will notify the public before further shooting

2. Canpages blurs all faces (and other recognizable features like license plates)

3. The blurring process is irreversible and cannot be decoded by any user

4. All original non-blurred files are being destroyed after blurring and before going online

5. Users can report any concern at any time using the "report a concern" feedback in each image

6. On request, Canpages will provide extra-blurring for an entire person, a vehicle, a pet, a window, a whole building, etc.

"We have received overwhelming positive feedback about the Street Scene service since we launched it a few weeks ago," said Olivier Vincent, President and CEO of Canpages. "While we have received no privacy complaints, we consider privacy a top priority for Canpages. And while privacy laws are not necessarily reflective of the rapidly growing field of technology, we at Canpages want to have a proactive approach to all concerns that may be raised. Street Scene is extremely innovative, signifying great progress for online local search as it will benefit consumers and businesses and encourage tourism in Canada."

In addition, Canpages is engaging with the public, with several privacy commissioners in Canada and with Pierre Poilievre, an MP with a motion before the Parliamentary access to information, privacy and ethics committee to review privacy matters. Canpages is committed to working both immediately and as part of an ongoing process to address the issue of privacy.