Google Terror Threat

bogd wrote to mention a CNN article wherein Indian President Abdul Kalam stated his concerns that Google Maps could be used to aid terrorists. From the article: "The Google site contains clear aerial photos of India's parliament building, the president's house and surrounding government offices in New Delhi. There are also some clear shots of Indian defense establishments. Debbie Frost, spokewoman for Mountain View, California-based Google, noted that the software uses information already available from public sources and the images displayed are about one to two years old, not shown in real time."

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[Spad]

The Register's competition based on this fact, spawned by the Australian government's worry over the security of their nuclear facility.

Nothing new..

[riflemann]

Many organisations and governments around the world have expressed these sorts of fears about GE.

Not long ago, the operators of Australia's only nuclear reactor expressed concern about GE.

Korea (both north and south) have expressed their concerns about it.

The Dutch have expressed concern.

Even in Russia they are nervous.

So far google has resisted censoring imagery, but how much longer can they hold out?

The /. crowd is one that's all for open-ness (and the public availability of imagery tends to favour this), but politics is not known for making logical decisions. It will probably take one major criminal incident (aka terrorist attack) to occur where there's proof of GE being used, at that point perhaps google will cave.

Personally I hope this never happens, but you can never tell what will happen...