Assemblyman wants Google Earth shutdown
Permalink | August 22nd, 2005
In an obvious attempt to gain media attention, Assemblyman Michael Gianaris of Queens New York is urging Google to shutdown Google Earth, stating that it aids terrorist activity.
The service, Google Earth, offers users close-up aerial photos of almost any building in the world — a potential gold mine for mayhem-minded fanatics, says Assemblyman Michael Gianaris.
…
Gianaris faxed off a letter Friday to Google Chairman Eric Schmidt at the company’s headquarters in Mountain View, Calif., and sent copies to the federal and state Homeland Security agencies.
While the mapping feature “may be entertaining,” he writes, “the satellite images offer detailed aerial views of sensitive locations that can provide terrorists with a virtual blueprint of potential targets.”
In a written statement, Google said that it has already “proactively reached out to the Defense Department to see if they have any concerns. They have not so far informed us of any, but we’re always willing to listen if they do.”
[via NY Post]
April 25th, 2006 at 9:43 pm
I understand Michaels concerns. But Michael, the reality is, the detailed information you find in google earth and many other programs, is hardly news to world terrorists. Nor is it good quality spying.. Google earth doesnt provide any “new” or “better” views of the world than what was already available years ago. Sattelite photos of the world have been around long before “virtual” earth and a terrorist or enemy state could even buy the photos from a country that had launched the spy sattelites, or weather sattelites, in far greater detail. I’m talking about reading the label on a coke can from space. Just a small example is the Orlando internatioanl airport has had runway 17left built and in operation for over a year now. yet the google earth image shows it still under construction. That makes the mapping and images around 2 years out of date. Google Earth, though virtual and impressive, is not REAL time. I’ts not a live video of earth. Any terrorist in our world would be reinventing the wheel if they stopped using their current technology to establish enemy targets to use Google earth. There are a lot of people out there Michael that feel the same way you do, however, its a non-issue. The military technology of the world is far ahead of the civilian technology. The stealth fighter and bomber were on the drawing boards and engineers tables as far back as the 60’s just to be debuted in the 80’s to the civilian world. Google earth is fascinating, and impressive, but hardly leading edge technology or even helpful to terrorists.