Google's Imaging Technology - Boon Or Bane?

Aug 2005: South Korea voices "security concerns" at images of its military bases and presidential mansion.

Dec 2005: Google Earth obscures view of Washington mansion of Vice-President Dick Cheney.

Aug 2006: Morrocco begins blocking access to Google Earth, giving no reason.

Feb 2007: India demands sensitive sites be blurred amid concern over extremists.

July 2007: New Chinese Jin-class nuclear sub spotted in port by users of Google Earth.

Oct 2007: Al-Aqsa Martyrs' brigade reportedly using Google Earth to plot rocket attacks on Israel.

Feb 2008: Heathrow expansion protesters use Google Earth (GE) to plan House of Commons rooftop demo.

Mar 2008: Pentagon bans Google map-makers filming inside military bases.

Above are a few incidents that have been raised or voiced or have occurred in different parts of the world, with the latest related to Pentagon. There is one thing common in all of these - Google's imaging technology.

Undoubtedly, Google's imaging technology has proved to be a boon for people. The Google Map, Google Earth, Google Street View, etc. have been the most helpful in disseminating the information about places, businesses, tourist spots, hospitals, schools, offices, etc. However, Google seems to have forgotten its limit and has infiltrated into the areas of military importance. Though there have been incidents of similar type in many countries, but the latest incident of Google filming inside the American military establishment has made the Pentagon restless.

The US Defence Department, is reported to have banned Google from filming inside and making detailed studies of US military bases. According to the department, close up ground level imagery of the military sites has posed security threats. The ban is believed to be imposed following the discovery of images of the Fort Sam Houston army base in Texas on Google Maps. "Images include 360-degree views of the covered area to include access control points, barriers, headquarters, facilities and community areas," said the defence department in a statement quoted by AFP news agency.

Google spokesperson Larry Yu said that the decision of a Google team to enter the Texan base and carry out a detailed survey was a mistake. In an interview he said, "It is not our policy to request access to military installations, but in this instance the operator of the vehicle with the camera on top - which is how we go about capturing imagery for Street-View - requested permission to access a military installation, was given access, and after learning of the incident we quickly removed the imagery".

It is the time when this 'socially responsible' company should really begin to understand that being socially responsible is not only to help the society grow. Rather there is one more aspect to being socially responsible and that is to ensure the security of the society and the above incidents are not expected from a socially responsible business.

Independent Thoughts:

Google Earth is just amazing, you can store the whole detailed image of the world in the palm of your hand and watch on MP4 players
Larry Yu should write an essay about world history military conflicts to learn how useful Google Earth imaging can be to terrorists.
Yeah, well it seems that if Larry Yu were to write an essay, he should probably first look over a few prior essays first.
Take Google imaging technology anywhere with you. Now you can even take it with you in the car with Car Hifi

By: Seema
Published: 03/08/08