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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."
You were joking, but in many countries this is true. On a cycling holiday in Malaysia and Thailand I naturally wanted topographic maps to know where the hills were. I saw tour guides had such maps but they're not offically for sale. At a library in Penang I was treated with suspicion when I asked to see their non-existent map collection. Of course it's quite stupid to pretend that terrorists (of which there were and are active groups in these countries) would be fazed by such restrictions. You can source excellent topographic maps of just about anywhere overseas, and of course the local military maps are available for the right price. The only people inconvenienced are legitimate travellers. Simialrly in more paranoid places tourists who take snaps of bridges or just about any public building can lose their cameras and get in trouble. Again quite a futile exercise of power, any "spy" can easily take pictures undetected. In Bruce Schneier's phrase, "security theatre" and scapegoating.
Ok, I have nothing against India, Indians, or their technical abilities. However, the accent DOES cause problems in my experience. Here's one example from personal experience: An elderly client used the reinstall CDs to try to fix his Dell. Whoops, that wiped Office Small Business and he had thrown away the cases because they didn't fit in his drawer the way he wanted. Oops. Called Dell, they couldn't find a serial that would work. Explained to the customer that calling Microsoft would cost $90 (I think that's what is was, I might be off a little) and he agreed. I got a guy in India. Now, have you ever tried to get a CD key, over the phone, from a guy with a REALLY strong accent? It went something like this: India: "Ok, your key is 9-8-7-bleh". Me: "Bleh? Was that D as in dog or B as in boy?" India (getting more and more aggravated): "Dog? What is dog? I do not know dog. I said BLEH". Anyway, I never could get a working CD key out of them. The customer didn't understand what the problem was, so I handed him the phone. Upshot is since he didn't use Outlook anyway he hung up and I installed Open Office.