As it came to light that the terrorists who that carried out the November attacks in Mumbai used GPS and Google Earth to plan their attacks, an attorney in India is calling upon the courts to direct Google to blur images of India that might be sensitive. While terrorists have access to Google Earth and other satellite photos, blurring or deleting images doesn't help the advancement of geographic knowledge. Besides, what would have needed to have been blurred out to prevent the use of Google Earth in the attacks? Would all the street-level data have to disappear, should all hotels be blurred out, what about public buildings and schools and shopping malls? In my opinion, it's a ridiculous premise and lacks merit. What do you think?
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To certain extent it is true that google gives out clear pictures where they want them to be. They are partial in this. They blank the US sites of importence and does the same on Chinese due to their threat of shooting the satallite. No one wants the details of Pak/Somalia sites either ! No one is going to attack those countries in any case. Therefore blanking at will, will benifit google.
GVK
If we are going to concern ourselves with the ability of terrorists to utilize Google Earth in planning future terror attacks would Google Earth not have to be a total blur??
I totally agree that blurring satellite images like google earth is not a solution. These days information is available everywhere. If terrorists don’t have access to images available to the public, they will seek other ways to get the information. On the contrary, tools like Google Earth should be use to create awareness of different cultures, religions and values; and to promote tolerance and understanding among human beings.
I think it would be a travesty to limit this useful tool to the vast majority of the public due to the potential that terrorist will use it. These guys are determined and blotting out Google Earth may slightly slow them down. All they have to do then is purchase the areas of interest. So what have you actually accomplished?
This sux man… Why do we have dumb politicians ruling the masses? And Google should have known better that such stupid and dim witted requests as to blurring the images would prevent false flag terrorist acts such as the one in Mumbai. Cmon gimme a break!