Google Street View Gets Israeli Government's Nod 90
hypnosec writes "Israel's Justice Ministry has decided to give its approval to Google's Street View services to feature 360 degree images of the country's streets, according to a new, confirmed report. The ministry also assured that Tel Aviv's Law, Information and Technology Authority will cause no worries for Google from now on when it comes to deploying its sophisticated photography equipment in the streets, as well as in posting the photographs taken on its map service."
US restricts US companies' sat.photos of Israel (Score:5, Informative)
This is truly bizarre, albeit true [motherjones.com]. With the passing of the National Defense Authorization Act [nps.gov] in 1997, private companies in United States aren't allowed to provide high resolution satellite/aerial imagery of Israel. This restriction boggles my mind for a free country. Not that it matters much longer as other countries such as Turkey are going to provide high-resolution imagery of Israel in 2013.
It could be possible to construct a rudimentary "aerial" view by warping street view imagery (of course several areas and building roofs would not get into that picture) however. So yeah, there are some pretty weird restrictions out there.
Re:I'm confused ... (Score:4, Informative)
I think you're coming at this from a very Western Lens. (Well, I assume.)
Israel's approach to security isn't as generalized as to find taking pictures [as an isolated action] suspicious, and with the healthy tourism it wouldn't really be effective anyway. They employ more direct security strategies (profiling, fast-reaction, military presence, road-blocks in hot areas, etc) as a deterrent and response. The Hamas MO also doesn't seem to attack landmarks/buildings either; Rocket barrages, directly attacking bus-lines, and kidnapping soldiers on patrol don't require much in the way of intel pictures.