Google has been attracting a lot of controversy lately with
its offerings, be it the ill-fated
Google Print project or
the conspiracy theorist's favourite- Google Earth. For the
benefit of those who came in late, Google Earth is an
application that gives
users access to satellite
images of
the entire Earth over the Internet. It comes in three
versions, the basic (free) version allows the users to view
medium-resolution pictures of the
globe and the ability to
see a few
areas like the USA and some of Europe very close
up, but with the paid editions (which are for $20 and 400$ a
month), users can view and print high-resolution images
(with upto 10 kilometers of zoom) of almost all parts of the
world. So one can not only locate the route to that new
restaurant but also have a look at how it actually appears
from above. Myriad uses for it come to mind immediately,
like travel planning, geographical research or just plain
sightseeing (there's just something about seeing a satellite
view of your own house that is hard to resist).
The Earth Reacts Unfortunately, a lot of brouhaha has
been created over the product since its launch. India
recently joined the ever-growing list of countries that have
voiced their concerns over Google Earth when President APJ
Abdul Kalam expressed his apprehensions regarding the
possibility of Google Earth being used for infiltration
purposes in sensitive areas. India is in good company on
this list, which includes the likes of USA, UK, Australia,
Thailand and The Netherlands among others. The most
vociferous detractor of Google Earth has been South Korea,
which is deeply threatened by the fact that North Koreans
(whom they are eternally at war with) could use the program
against them. So what exactly is it that has managed to
ruffle so many feathers? The fact that terrorists or rival
nations could get their hands on detailed high-resolution
images of military bases, nuclear facilities and other
restricted areas seems to be the biggest fear. One of the
most common misconceptions is that Google provides real-time
or live images of the globe. In reality, some of the images
on Google Earth are upto three years old! It is highly
unlikely that terrorists and militant groups would base
their plans of worldwide destruction on three-year-old
pictures. Even so, one could argue that the locations of
areas like the prime minister's residence aren't liable to
change over a few years. So, is that a potential risk? Lets
look at it this way -the images of the globe provided by
Google are nothing that satellites of almost every country
wouldn't have gotten their hands on decades ago (remember
the period of the Cold War when there were hundreds of
American and Russian spy satellites hovering around all over
the skies). The only thing that Google has done is to make
it accessible to the masses. And if you dig deeper, you will
find that much more detailed high-resolution satellite
images of the Earth have been available on the Internet for
years. In fact, Google itself purchased and modified an
already existing program called Keyhole and turned it into
Google Earth. Then there is the small matter that Google is
also getting their images from third parties like DigiGlobe.
So, the images are and have always been out there.
Now You See Me, Now You Don't A few countries have asked for images of sensitive areas to be
blurred so that the users only have access to tourist
attractions. This is indeed a possible solution to pacify
the outcries and one that Google has already implemented in
a few places. But then where does this end? By giving in to
these views we are sacrificing our right to knowledge and
are giving the authorities the permission to put a ban on
anything and everything that they perceive as a 'security
risk'.
Much Ado About Nothing The entire argument against Gooh being a security threatty unconvincing.
Google Earth may be used to prove the existence of flying cars
(http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/01/23/flying_car/)
or to locate sketches of Jesus on Peruvian sands
(http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/07/15/google_spots_jesus/),
but as a tool for planning world domination-it has a long way to go. Although,
I'm not too sure if poor old Santa Claus would totally agree with me,
seeing that he was being frantically tracked by the Google
Earth community, this Christmas
(http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2005/12/this-just-in.html).
More reviews about the Security Concerns Over Google Earth