In a news release, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada announced New Zealand–based social network and search engine startup Profile Engine violated Canadian privacy law when it scraped public profiles of approximately 4.5 million Canadians for reuse on its own site. The company has claimed it has profile information of more than 420 million people. Though Profile argued the information was public and that consent was not needed, the OPC's "investigation determined that was not the case," the release states. "The profile information at issue was not 'publicly available' within the meaning of Canada's federal private sector privacy law." The OPC has contacted the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of New Zealand, which will "consider what options may be available under New Zealand laws." 
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