Today while readling Slashdot
, I had to stop and re read an article I saw. Google Terror Threat mentions an article that is found on CNN - India warns: Google terror threat.
From this article it states, "Indian President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam expressed concern Saturday about a free mapping program from Google Inc., warning it could help terrorists by providing satellite photos of potential targets."
The article discusses how Google Earth may be used to help terrorits by allowing people to access areas of developing countries via sattelite images. Also, it goes on to state: "The governments of South Korea and Thailand and lawmakers in the Netherlands have expressed similar concerns."
Although Google Maps and Google Earth use information already available to the public, and the images are a couple years old, I had to stop and wonder why Google is being singled out for this.
MapQuest, MapBlaster, MS Streets and Trips, Yahoo! Maps, Terraserver, Delorme Street Atlas and 3-D Quads, and even Tiger have this information as well. Many of these give detailed information how to get to and from locations by giving specific directions and not just satellite images. These programs have been around for years.
And, on a side note, what about GPS’s?
I do not quite understand why Google Earth was singled out for this. There are all sorts of services such as this which have been around for years and also been public. Also, most of these satellit images are going to be a couple of years old, but many programs with specific directions are going to be more up to date than that.
I think it is about time to start handing out Cluepons. Here’s your sign…
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