Google Blurring Sensitive Map Information

Cyphoid writes "While viewing my school (the University of Massachusetts Lowell) with Google Maps, I noticed that a select portion of the campus was pixelated: the operational nuclear research facility on campus. Curious, I attempted to view the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Plant in Plymouth, Massachusetts. It too was pixelated. What or who is compelling Google to smudge out these images selectively? Will all satellite images of facilities that the government deems 'sensitive' soon be subject to censoring?" Not surprisingly, the same areas are blurred in Google Earth. But how about images from satellites operated by other nations, such as SPOT or Sovinformsputnik?

Comments

Take the guided tour

[Joebert]

Hey Ahmed, we're going on vacation !

Petulant 3-year-olds...

[Brett Buck]

And the instant there's a terrorist attack on a nuclear facility, you will all jump up and down pointing the finger at the "Adminstration" for not taking simple precautions to prevent attacks.

        We are fighting a war. It started maybe 25 years ago, whether we recognized it or not or whether you want to admit it or not. During wartime it's very common to have some restrictions on the flow of information. During WWII, ordinary citizens had their "rights" infringed to the point that they weren't allowed to look out the windows of airplanes while flying cross-country. And it's a lot more likely that Islamicists will attempt to blow up a critical facility or other larger target than the Japanese or Germans - since they have already done it 3 times. It only makes sense to ensure that it's as difficult as possible. Yes, you can call up the French and get SPOT Image, or someone else. to give you a picture of the same place, with some time and money. All that means is that the people supplying the image don't give a rat's ass about your safety or the safety of the country.

      If you don't want this, then, fine, you probably shouldn't be listened to, any more than an adult listens to the whining of a 3-year old having a temper tantrum. Your hated "administration" is doing what it can (short of shooting down "neutral" satellites) to address an obvious security issue.

        By the way, when you are modding this down to oblivion, consider that you are doing nothing different in concept than what you are complaining about.

        Brett

Re:Simcurity

[nwbvt]

So in other words, your argument is putting your hands over your ears and screaming "LALALALAICANTHEARYOULALA!"

Well, this is /., so I guess I can't expect much better from armchair policy 'experts' who think they know more than the people who really are in charge of things like nuclear power plant security...