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Google Pulls Map Images At Pentagon's Request

Posted by kdawson on from the limits-to-openness dept.

Stony Stevenson alerts us to a little mixup in which a Google Street View crew requested and was granted access to a US military base. Images from inside the base (which was not identified in press reports) showed up online, and the Pentagon requested that they be pulled. Google complied within 24 hours. The military has now issued a blanket order to deny such photography requests in the future; for its part Google says the filming crew should never have asked.

6 of 217 comments (clear)

  1. they let them in... by chaos421 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    well what did they expect? they let in a car with a deathstar-like thing on the roof. don't you think the gate guards would have asked what the heck that was? oh i don't know it could have been a camera, laser beam, bomb whatever... maybe they used the force. "move along."

    google street view camera

    1. Re:they let them in... by gnick · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Depending on the guard/base, getting on is not always difficult - I accidentally sneaked onto an Air Force base a few years ago (my second time driving onto a military base where I was unauthorized.) I pulled up to the guard station expecting to be turned away - I just wanted to ask the guard for directions to the badge office so that I could get a day-pass for my car. As expected, he asked to see my vehicle pass but, before I could respond, he noticed that I had flowers on my passenger seat (they were given to me earlier that day as congratulations on the birth of my first son.) He told me that if I was just delivering flowers not to worry about it. But, he did mention that I shouldn't spend too long on base before waving me on.

      So that's it - You want to sneak onto base, arm yourself with flowers.

      (As a side note, on my first breach - a missile range - I was armed with a rat. But that's another story...)

      --
      He's getting rather old, but he's a good mouse.
    2. Re:they let them in... by gnick · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Sorry - I didn't post it because I don't find it as interesting as the flower incident and wasn't sure anyone would even care to hear about the flower incident.

      Basically, I got lost. Really lost. (I've been known to get lost in elevators - Really. That can be embarrassing to explain.) I was driving from El Paso to Las Cruces with all of my stuff in my car because I was moving to go to school. That included my pet rat who would ride either in his cage on my passenger seat or on my shoulder. Anyway, I somehow wound up on the wrong side of the Organ mountains (I should have noticed that I'd lost the highway when I realized that there was no traffic and that somebody had installed tank-crossing signs along the road.) The road dead-ended at a guard station - I didn't realize that until the last minute because it was after midnight (dark) and I was tired. The guards (3) came out as I was scrambling to get my rat back in his cage. Before the guard that approached my car could ask WTF I was doing there, I started with "Where the hell am I?" With that, the other two guards chuckled and went back in the building.

      The guard that remained was obviously more interested in my rat than he was me and asked a few questions as to why in the hell I would have a rat with me. (Wouldn't a better question be "Why are you driving up to a military guard post at 0030?) I explained that I was moving had gotten turned around. He warned me that the missile range was closed except to personnel working there and told me to drive straight through without deviating. I did.

      That's it - End of story. It disturbed me a little that I was let in, but turning me around would have taken 1 hour+, so I won't complain.

      --
      He's getting rather old, but he's a good mouse.
  2. really? by verbalcontract · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Google Street View: Hey, we want to update Google Maps so ordinary citizens can more easily find their way around cities. Can we go into your military base with this car mounted with cameras in every direction? Seeing as so many ordinary citizens are going to and from the Starbucks next to Colonel Hapablap's quarters. Even though it's against Google policy to do this in military bases.

    Military Base: I see no problem with that.

    Seriously, how did this happen in the first place? Doesn't the military have security?

  3. ITS NOT CENSORSHIP by JeanBaptiste · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Most anything on a military base belongs to the military. Most of the buildings, most of the vehicles, most of the people - GI stands for Government Issue... Therefore in this case it is not 'censorship' in the least.

  4. Re:Having lived on a military base... by mark_hill97 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I used to work for AAFES on MacDill AFB in Tampa, FL. While the things you said about deliveries and such used to be true after 9/11 it all changed. At our base there was a special gate JUST for deliveries, where the contents would be examined in depth. Coming onto the base you would be subjected to a high level of examination, mirrors under the car, examining everything. It was a nightmare, 4-5 hours just to get onto the base if you were driving (I lived near enough that i would walk into work). As for jumping the closed fences, forget about it, those things had barbed wire and not the single thin stuff it was the wrapped heavy duty stuff. Constant security patrols would be going up and down the edge of the base. I myself was so frequently detained for being suspicious (I walked, it was Florida, nobody walks in Florida!) that the guys back at the station knew me by name. Granted this was all immediately after 9/11 and up until mid '03 so my information may not be as relevant anymore.