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India’s president, an ex-missile expert named A.P.J. Abdul Kalam,
wants Google to dumb down Google Earth so it does
not reveal sensitive Indian facilities so explicitly. Kalam asserts that terrorists could use Google Earth to gain
insight into possible targets. It is easy to imagine terrorists all over the world booting up Google Earth as a
standard research tool. Google responded with a reminder that Earth’s satellite imagery is taken from public sources.
But, of course, the point is that Google Earth is an easy and free pacakging of those sources. The fact that the images
are at least a year old in most cases probably doesn’t go far in assuaging fears. Google might consider blotting out
sensitive areas, but a little of that puts a lot of editorial control in the hands of governments and companies that
might deliver a long list of geographic demands.
If Google’s map products aren’t being accused of aiding terrorists, Google is accused of being politically out of
date: Taiwan wants Google to apologize for
labeling the island a republic of China in Google Maps.
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