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Debunking the Google Earth Censorship Myth

Posted by timothy on from the just-what-they-want-you-to-think dept.

waderoush writes "There's a persistent Web meme to the effect that Google obscures sensitive or top-secret locations in Google Maps and Google Earth at the insistence of national governments. A July IT Security article promoted on Digg, 'Blurred Out: 51 Things You Aren't Allowed to See on Google Maps,' revived this notion. But the article has been widely criticized, and I did some fact-checking this week on the six Boston-area locations mentioned in the IT Security list. As it turns out, not one of the allegedly blurred locations has degraded imagery in Google Maps, as my screen shots demonstrate. My post looks into the sources of the misleading IT Security piece, and of other mistaken rumors about Google Maps."

5 of 294 comments (clear)

  1. Blurry, no; pixelated hell yes by FlyByPC · · Score: 5, Informative

    Check out the Naval Observatory in Washington, DC. Definitely pixelated -- but the cars just outside the circle are quite visible.

    ...Not that Mr. Cheney is the secretive sort. Perish the thought!

    --
    Paleotechnologist and connoisseur of pretty shiny things.
  2. Re:So what about the other 45 locations? by Chrismith · · Score: 5, Informative
    I only looked at the first few locations on the list, but several of them were obviously blurred or pixelated -- the Naval Observatory in DC is a perfect blurry circle amid high-res imagery, and the Air Force Base listed as #4 looks like someone inserted a mosaic art piece over the image.

    Did this guy really not look at these locations? Those were in the top five, and there are links to the Google Maps locations in question, for crying out loud.

  3. Re:Fact Checking Failure by maeka · · Score: 4, Informative

    All the higher-res images are airplane shots, not satellite. Why does this need constant reminding?

  4. Ramstein airbase is whited out by ChrisCampbell47 · · Score: 5, Informative

    I discovered today that Ramstein airbase in Germany (hugely important to US) is "whited out". At first I just thought it was a really big building, then I thought white concrete surfacing. Finally I realized that it was blacked out, but they tried to make it look like it wasn't. They even threw in a a few fake aircraft and shadows, but didn't quite make it past the uncanny valley. It's just a matter of time until they perfect the fabrication of imagery for those locations.

    See for yourself; that ain't real.

    --
    One simple rule for its versus it's
  5. Propaganda piece of an article by jonfr · · Score: 4, Informative

    This article is BS. As anyone how bothers to see there are places on google earth that are blurred or cut out and replaced with green fields.

    Here are two examples.

    http://maps.google.com/maps?t=k&q=52.109911,4.326597&ie=UTF8&ll=52.109912,4.326596&spn=0.00456,0.009549&z=17&iwloc=addr
    http://maps.google.com/maps?t=k&q=53.2232,5.754861&ie=UTF8&ll=53.223199,5.754862&spn=0.01778,0.038195&z=15&iwloc=addr