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Google Terror Threat 366

Posted by Zonk from the not-that-scary dept.
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."
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Google Terror Threat More

Google Terror Threat

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  • First postage!!!! (Score:2, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    From Uncyclopedia

    "Netcraft confirms it...it is whack."

    -- Oscar Wilde on Slashdot

    "I'm going to fucking bury that guy, I have done it before, and I will do it again. I'm going to fucking kill Slashdot for slashdotting Uncyclopedia on pirate day."

    --Steve Ballmer on Slashdot

    The Sovereign State of Slashdot (http://slashdot.org/ [slashdot.org] is an independent nation roughly located between the Republic of Sourceforge and Jesus Ocean. Formerly a member of the UN, Slashd

  • outsourcing (Score:4, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 16, 2005 @08:11AM (#13802777)
    looks like india has outsourced their equivalent dhs and military intelligence to USA
    • looks like india has outsourced their equivalent dhs and military intelligence to USA

      After reading the "arguments" of the Indian president, I would rather think that the US has outsourced government cluelessness to India.

      Thomas-

  • See also (Score:5, Informative)

    by Spad ( 470073 ) <slashdot@ s p a d . co.uk> on Sunday October 16, 2005 @08:13AM (#13802789) Homepage
    The Register's [theregister.co.uk] competition based on this fact, spawned by the Australian government's worry over the security of their nuclear facility.

  • Access Control (Score:4, Funny)

    by Jack Earl ( 913275 ) on Sunday October 16, 2005 @08:14AM (#13802795) Homepage
    So all they should do is put up one of those "Are you crazy?" tests before getting into Google Maps, but they can change the words around to say things like, "Do you enjoy looking at outdated pictures of geography for the places you want to destroy?" [ ] Strongly Agree [ ] Agree [ ] Disagree [ ] Strongly Disagree

  • Deny The Enemy (Score:3, Insightful)

    by N8F8 ( 4562 ) on Sunday October 16, 2005 @08:14AM (#13802799)
    I think you have to balance the threat against the public benefit.

    • Re:Deny The Enemy (Score:2, Insightful)

      by diersing ( 679767 )
      Who gets to decide? The White House? The NRA? Al-Queda?

  • less work (Score:5, Funny)

    by icepick72 ( 834363 ) on Sunday October 16, 2005 @08:14AM (#13802802)
    the software uses information already available from public sources and the images displayed are about one to two years old,

    Ok then, more easily-accessible terrorist information. I mean, Google could blur out all security-sensitive buildings like the White House but then the terrorists know to bomb the blurry spots, or to go to the local tour agency in D.C and pick up a map of the city. Or buy Microsoft flight simulator and practice crashing planes into buildings (ya, they blurred out stuff too), etc etc. The list goes on. I agree that the information is already available like the Google spokespersons says. Google just makes it more convenient to access, that's all. Everybody has to go to less work for good and bad purposes.

    • Actually, I'm pretty sure they already do (blur sensitive spots). I looked up the whitehouse a while back; its top, as well as the tops of several nearby buildings, were "painted over" (you couldn't even see the signature dome), and the interior courtyards of some of the nearby buildings were blurred/pixelated out. (anyhow, the whitehouse's location is common knowledge; what it might be defended by is less so).

    • Government ideas to counter terror (Score:5, Funny)

      by saskboy ( 600063 ) on Sunday October 16, 2005 @09:27AM (#13803099) Homepage Journal
      Obviously MS should bug their Flight simulator to contact the government by the Internet if anyone crashes a plane into a building.

      And anyone caught looking up popular destinations only in Google Maps, is headed to Guantanamo. Don't bother packing, they'll provide a toothbrush for you. /sarcasm.
      • And anyone caught looking up popular destinations only in Google Maps, is headed to Guantanamo.

        That would be funny if the feds hadn't told cops to be on the lookout [cnn.com] for people carrying almanacs. Or if they weren't hassling [69.93.170.43] casual [toomuchsexy.org] photographers [boingboing.net] everywhere [freedomtophotograph.com].

      • Obviously MS should bug their Flight simulator to contact the government by the Internet if anyone crashes a plane into a building.

        I know you're kidding but Dr. Bob Arnot of NBC, in the wake of 9/11, said that perhaps Flight Simulator was indeed part of the problem when he showed the "shocking" images of how you could use it to fly into the WTC.

        In the ensuing weeks after 9/11 my then-coworkers (who at that job tended to be old - like 50's to 60's old) looked at me in shock when I told them that I've fl

  • So, does this mean.. (Score:4, Funny)

    by aurb ( 674003 ) on Sunday October 16, 2005 @08:16AM (#13802809)
    that Google Maps is as evil as Linux, because terrorists might use it?
    • ergo they must use Windows. Also, don't forget, they're terrorists, so not only do they use Windows, they use unlicensed Windows, probably even with the Registry hacked to enable the Enterprise Features.

  • Presidents that work for terrorists (Score:4, Insightful)

    by pe1chl ( 90186 ) on Sunday October 16, 2005 @08:16AM (#13802810)
    The worst presidents (and other heads of governments) are those that continuously state that terrorists are a threat, and that everything that could possibly help a terrorist has to be taken down.

    Terrorism is about threat, and continously emphasising that threat is only helping the terrorists.
    • Yea I think we've proven that ignoring the threat works well for us.
      • We are still ignoring it (in the real sense) now. But our government is giving it lip service to get funding for all kinds of pork.

        Exploiting terrorism to increase budgets for programs that do nothing to actually help prevent another attack is the lowest kind of low.

        Terrorists are nothing to be afraid of, they are an annoyance at best and need to be treated accordingly. If you have a bug problem, you do some things that will help, check on their effectiveness occasionally, and forget it.

    • Re:Presidents that work for terrorists (Score:5, Insightful)

      by dattaway ( 3088 ) on Sunday October 16, 2005 @08:21AM (#13802829) Homepage Journal
      Terrorism is good for business. The military has always been the largest government payroll and contracting business. If the fundraising activities for my party wasn't making my promised quota, I'd be saying everyone was a terrorist too. If things aren't working, start blaming people. This is a formula that has always worked for any leader.
    • Yes, like the 82-year old guy shouting nonsense when Jack Straw spoke at the labour party conference in the UK. He was afterwoods questions by police under the Anti-Terrorism Act. When do people start to switch on there brain and start to use common sense again instead of continuously repeating a mantra for political purposes?
    • A. P. J. Kalam is one of the greatest presidents of India. He is actually a rocket scientist who is most educated and highly successful scientists in the political arena of the world (compare to the ones who dont have a clue on the countrys nightmares and still keep trying to kill everyone they can think of in their dreams). How many times have you heard of a president who did not have get time to get married nor buy a house nor worry about driving in a six figured pricey car ? For more than past 30 years
      • He is wrong, and so are you.
        Google (as stated many, many times) only organizes information that is already public.
        Everything a goverment wants to keep secret (and, mind you, governments should NOT do much stuff secretly) it should do underground (Cheyenne Mountain) and isolated from other, non-google type of spying. But mainly, governments shoud refrain from doing anything secretly.
        How to make a fission bomb is not a secret anymore; how to refine uranium so it can be used still is, but not for long. The sec
        • Right. I'd like you to provide a freely available, high-res map of the White House and its surroundings on the Internet. Here's a hint: it's not even up on Google Maps.

          The Rashtrapati Bhavan in Delhi, in comparison, is, and therein lies the problem.

    • "Why of course the people don't want war... (snip) That is understood. But after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine policy, and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and e

    • Re:Presidents that work for terrorists (Score:4, Insightful)

      by hackstraw ( 262471 ) * on Sunday October 16, 2005 @10:39AM (#13803484)
      Terrorism is about threat, and continously emphasising that threat is only helping the terrorists.

      Can we make a mantra out of this?

      Yes, a bomb in a work building killing up to thousands of people at a time is scary, but terrorism only becomes terrorism when a unique freak occurrence invokes a pervasive fear in people. Otherwise, its just a unique freak occurrence or "act of god".

      Lets say that 500 people were killed in each of two different scenarios. 1) 500 people died in a building due to an earthquake. 2) 500 people died due to a deliberately set bomb.

      Same net death count, but which one is more likely to be labeled as "terrorist"? And once the buildings are rebuilt and people go about their lives, what would be the difference between their lives? Odds are, the only difference would be how much one concentrates on and thinks about the event, and much of what they will think about will be in terms of fear. Now, imagine that the bomb was found to be set by a psychotic child and he was safely secured in a mental facility. Then, the fear would go down, and almost completely disappear. Now, if the bomb was by a network of organized people that have planned for years to deliberately set the bomb. The fear goes up. Why is that? It must have something to do with the deliberateness and all of that organization and planning. Keep in mind, that there are plenty of jobs and places to live that are much more dangerous than working in an office building.

      Do people that have these dangerous jobs live in perpetual fear? Cab drivers, policemen, fishermen, rock stars, astronauts, soldiers? Hell no. At most, if they are that concerned for their family, they quit doing what they are doing and do something else. Otherwise, they just take it as being an acceptable risk to die doing what they want to do. For example, its an acceptable risk to drive for most people. Its the number one accidental way to die, yet people still do it, and do crazy variations of it like not wearing a seatbelt, driving when impaired from sleep deprivation or alcohol use, or driving at excessive speeds or in inclimate weather. So, even when there is a known risk of death, I don't know of anybody that is in fear of driving. Maybe have the sense to not do it under certain circumstances, but nowhere near a pervasive fear.

      So, what is there to fear about going to work in an office building? Look hard. I'm sure you will figure it out.

    • Actually, terrorism is about fear (terror), but I agree that we shouldn't emphasize it. The worst thing you can do is be afraid of a terrorist, because then he's won. Media companies make the problem 10 times worse by giving terrorists mind-share. Every time they flash the latest "terror alert level", some dude in a terror cell is snickering.

      Ignore terrorism, and shun people who push it as an agenda. This policy has three effects: one, you aren't scared all the time (defeats terrorism); two, it removes cre

  • In other news... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Vicsun ( 812730 ) on Sunday October 16, 2005 @08:19AM (#13802821)
    Paper maps proclaimed to be a threat to national security as they can be used to guide terrorists to important government buildings.
    • I can detect a hint of sarcasm in that posting. In India however the company that created the only detailed, publically available Map of Mumbai had to get clearance from the Ministry of Defence first [gisdevelopment.net].

      It seems ridiculous to me, to think that a person who intends to carry out an attack is going to give up because he couldn't find a map of the place, but that seems to be their logic.

    • You got it wrong. The paper map technology has not changed in a long time, but terrorists may now obtain sensitive data on nuclear plants with incredible military-level resolution using conventional maps designed to fit in glove compartments thanks to the recent Japanese advancements in electron microscope technology.
    • Laugh if you want, but I'd dare you to produce one accurate topographical map of India with a decent scale and grid. Publically available maps simply don't have the amount of detail necessary in an operational sense; as any army person will tell you, knowing where a state's capitol ("Legislative Assembly" in India) is entirely different from being able to tell where a certain army bunker is, for example.

    • Re:In other news... (Score:5, Interesting)

      by 1u3hr ( 530656 ) on Sunday October 16, 2005 @09:40AM (#13803174)
      Paper maps proclaimed to be a threat to national security as they can be used to guide terrorists to important government buildings.

      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.

    • I don't think I am revealing any military secrets by pointing out that paper maps often are subject to military censorship. Not that I think the defense establishment reviews every map there is, but that there are stuff that is normally left out of maps. My experience is that Swedish countryside maps are on purpose inaccurate, leaving roads out, or putting in roads that have never existed (minor roads that is, the E4 is probably correct...).

      The idea is of course that russian invasion forces wouldn't be abl
      • are very accurate. It's brain-dead easy to find major targets using commercially-available maps in those cities. I've never been to an American city where I thought, "gee, this map is just totally out of whack. I can't find the capital building." Commercial maps leave off the details of American military reservations, but it's always been rather easy to find the details for most of those facilities as well. It seems that the accuracy of maps of the countryside are really of little consequence anyway, since
    • Additionally people replying truthfully to direction inquiries by strangers found to be terrorist collaborators.

  • Famous terror attacks (Score:5, Insightful)

    by 91degrees ( 207121 ) on Sunday October 16, 2005 @08:20AM (#13802822) Journal
    Okay - The most recent terror attack I recall was on the Lonodn Underground. This used suicide bombers. We also saw a large attack on trains in Spain, involving planted bombs and another suicide attack involving hijacked planes. There seems to be no evidence that terrorists have any substantial technological capabilities.

    All of these were possible without maps.

    The locations of most public buildings is already very well known. Government tends not to keep its existence a secret.

    I just don't quite see how the information gleaned from google maps is really going to help a terrorist organisation any more than, say, mobile telephones and large bags.

  • Nothing new.. (Score:5, Informative)

    by riflemann ( 190895 ) <riflemann@Nospam.bb.cactii.net> on Sunday October 16, 2005 @08:20AM (#13802823)
    Many organisations and governments around the world have expressed these sorts of fears about GE.

    Not long ago, the operators of Australia's only nuclear reactor expressed concern [smh.com.au] about GE.

    Korea (both north and south) have expressed their concerns about it.

    The Dutch have expressed concern [dmeurope.com].

    Even in Russia they are nervous. [mosnews.com]

    So far google has resisted censoring imagery, but how much longer can they hold out?

    The /. crowd is one that's all for open-ness (and the public availability of imagery tends to favour this), but politics is not known for making logical decisions. It will probably take one major criminal incident (aka terrorist attack) to occur where there's proof of GE being used, at that point perhaps google will cave.

    Personally I hope this never happens, but you can never tell what will happen...
    • What, are we suppose to believe that General Electric is part of this? Next you'll be telling me that General Motors is involved with this massive conspiracy too.
       
    • ... fears about GE ... concern about GE ... proof of GE

      Please do not use GE as an abbreviation for Google. GE is known as General Electric. Very confusing.

    • Re:Nothing new.. (Score:3, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward
      So far google has resisted censoring imagery, but how much longer can they hold out?

      Bzzzzzzt.... How would you call the blurring out of the white house?
      Oh wait - it's god own country, that's something completely different.

  • Can't blame technology for Terrorism. (Score:5, Insightful)

    by jellomizer ( 103300 ) * on Sunday October 16, 2005 @08:20AM (#13802825)
    You can't blame technology for terrorism. Terrorist will use whatever tools are at their disposal. People don't seem to remember that 9/11 occurred with terrorists using low technology methods take over a plain with Box Cutters (BTW it is tough to actually kill a person with a Box Cutter, But they could get a nasty cut) And they did it without google maps they did it with finding flaws in the Beurorocracy[sp?] of our government. Technology has little to do with terrorism the only major technological advancement that aided Terrorism is the airplane because it removed the water borders between countries that makes it easy for people mad at us half way around the world to come here.

    • You can't blame technology for terrorism. Terrorist will use whatever tools are at their disposal.

      Strictly speaking, what you're saying is right. But no one is blaming Technology. You've made a subtle shift here and then defended a position no one is taking. What people are blaming is the availability of technology.

      This situation is more akin to someone being alarmed that kids are shooting themselves because gun owners are leaving unboxed guns around and then someone saying "well, you can't blame g

  • So google map is a threat... (Score:3, Insightful)

    by WindBourne ( 631190 ) on Sunday October 16, 2005 @08:21AM (#13802828) Journal
    But not all the other maps (online and none online)? Perhaps maps.google.com is a a threat somewhere, but most likely it is elsewhere.

    Why is it, that leaders everywhere invoke the terrorists notion, and almost always it is during an election or when they want something that is not related? It is becoming like the hitler thread.

  • Politicians love to talk ... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Daniel Dvorkin ( 106857 ) * on Sunday October 16, 2005 @08:24AM (#13802843) Homepage Journal
    ... about how evil and "cowardly" terrorists are, how we have to stand firm against them, never negotiate, never give into their demands, etc. And then they want us to limit our lives in assorted stupid ways because if we don't, "Oh no! The terrorists will get us!" Anyone see the contradiction here?

  • crazy paranoia (Score:3, Insightful)

    by srblackbird ( 569638 ) on Sunday October 16, 2005 @08:25AM (#13802848) Homepage
    Everyone including the terrorists know that the maps are not up-to-date. I assume that terrorists go to the place physically for security reconnaissance and so forth. I can't believe they are blaming Google for aiding the terrorists. It's insane.
  • If you are a terrorist you probabaly haven't been waiting for Google to put up maps and show you how the indian parliament house is built or where it is. I am sure any promising terrorist can use basic language skills or a simple map to locate those structures by himself.

    It's not like you wake up one day and think to yourself, "Wow, Thanks to Google maps I can locate the foreign department's offices in new Delhi now, I might blow them up".

    Austrlalia's parlimant and prime ministers private residency are

  • Pbulicly available? Where? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by bogaboga ( 793279 ) on Sunday October 16, 2005 @08:27AM (#13802856)
    >"...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."

    Guys, emphasis is mine, but where else can I get this already available information to the public apart from a service similar to what Google offers? I do not know of any!

    • Maybe if you made the effort to "look" for it, you might be able to make a more informed judgment.

    • I know it's unfashionable in these days if the Intarweb, but your local public library probably has a good selection of maps, and if they don't have the one you wan't, they'll be happy to order it for you and maybe send you a little postcard to tell you when it's in stock.

      Using this method I was able to get some useful computer science books (Sedgwick and the one on 3D graphics) when I was too badly paid by BNFL to be able to afford books of my own.

      Here in the UK we have a marvellous resourch which is the

  • ...I'm comforted by this reminder that most politicians are morons, and that George Bush is not that special.

    • Re:As an American... (Score:5, Informative)

      by The Cydonian ( 603441 ) on Sunday October 16, 2005 @09:22AM (#13803070) Homepage Journal
      Dr Kalam is a respected satellite/missile scientist who's worked with the Indian Space Research Organisation for most of his life. Rather sure he made this statement because of his defence research experience and interest in technology, and not necessarily because he has been elected to the highest office in the country.

      In India, our presidents are rarely career-politicians, mostly because they have very little oversight on policy matters; they are usually eminent statesmen who "guide" the Prime Minister and his cabinet in formulating policy. The PM can, naturally, disregard the President's advice.

    • .I'm comforted by this reminder that most politicians are morons, and that George Bush is not that special.

      although, I think he's specialer

  • The map in question (Score:2, Informative)

    by od05 ( 915556 )
    The Rashtrapati Bhavan, the official residence of the President of India.

    http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=28.614345,77.199479 &spn=0,0&t=k&hl=en [google.com]
  • . . . the rich and powerful never minded when public information was available, so long as it was only available to the elite. Now that it's available to everyone, it's a problem that the alcalde's property tax bill, what cars he owns, and, yes, pictures of his palatial estate, are available to all comers on the in-tar-web.

  • Of course (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Bogtha ( 906264 ) on Sunday October 16, 2005 @08:33AM (#13802881)

    Food helps terrorists. Air helps terrorists. Maps help terrorists.

    You know what else helps terrorists? Constantly freaking out about how every little thing is either vulnerable to terrorists or helps terrorists.

    Seriously, what is it with the people that can't think about anything but terrorists? Don't they realise they are part of the problem? Calm down, chill out, have a cup of tea, and don't be part of the problem.

    • Re:Of course (Score:5, Insightful)

      by g2devi ( 898503 ) on Sunday October 16, 2005 @09:44AM (#13803199)
      After Katrina, the Tsunami, and the Indian-Pakistani earthquake this year, you'd think that people would realize that there are more important things to focus on in this world than terrorists.

      When you compare the number of deaths from terrorists with the number of deaths lost each year to weather, war, crime, or poverty things come into perspective very quickly.

    • Re:Of course (Score:2, Insightful)

      by CrazyDuke ( 529195 )
      Thank you, sir. I lived in American Sector, Berlin, Germany for 4 years back during the cold war. We had terrorist attacks from the Baader-Meinhof Gang [wikipedia.org]. It wasn't that big of a deal. My family and I just learned to keep an ear out for bomb threats and to stop and let the MPs search bags and under vehicles when going to American facilities. I was more threatened by a couple of boys that had gotten ahold of one of their parents knifes and decided to come after me with it.

      Seriously, you learn to live with
  • life itself... or is that fear itself?

    Actually it has been proven that many things can assist terrorist.

    From a car which anyone can use to kill another person or persons, etc..
    To political propoganda used to gain public support for terrorism and its promotion. US government generated more terrorism in response to 9/11 than what 9/11 did.

    And then there is the stock market to manipulate and drain whole regions (like the trillion dollar beat did to south east asia in the mid to late 1990's)....and how that mot

  • Why bitching about Google maps is bad (Score:5, Insightful)

    by G4from128k ( 686170 ) on Sunday October 16, 2005 @08:39AM (#13802905)
    Before governments publicized their worries about terrorists looking at maps of sensitive places, the government could probably make use (subpoenaed/secret/coerced, etc.) access to Google's logs to see who was trying to peek at these places. Cross-referencing anyone who tried to look at super secret "nuclear installation Q-345" with other data might help the government find terrorist cells. Now, after the government complains, 100,000 normal folks immediately go to Google Earth to try to find these sensitive locations and pollute the access log files.
  • 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."

    Using Google's KML languague, you can overlay more recent photos on a particular area. Of course, if you have those photos, then that's the problem, not Google Earth.

  • US Schools (Score:5, Funny)

    by Herkum01 ( 592704 ) on Sunday October 16, 2005 @08:43AM (#13802925)
    Does this explain why the US school system is so bad? Is it to prevent those people from being skilled enough to read and become terrorists?
  • The Register's Google Earth contest [theregister.co.uk].
  • ...is always unfair treatment of others - they could always cut down on that.
  • The nonsense perpetuated in old Soviet Union where maps were either wrong or nonexistence, INTENTIONALLY. Accurate map was considered a "State Secret." Ironically that is also where United States seems to be heading (Ever tried to look up satellite map of Washington DC?)

  • yay for freedom (Score:3, Informative)

    by icepick72 ( 834363 ) on Sunday October 16, 2005 @08:59AM (#13802985)
    All it's going to take is one terrorist attack on America where authorities find Google maps on the screens of the terrorists, and then we'll see the US enforce legislation to severely limit or do away with the like of Google maps. And then Google's stocks will fall. And then ... (fill in the blank however you see fit)

    So anyways the moral of the story is I love living in a "free" continent where security can overtake my freedoms, but me must continue to use the word "freedom" even more fervently as if it is true.

  • Dr Kalam says more than that. (Score:3, Interesting)

    by The Cydonian ( 603441 ) on Sunday October 16, 2005 @09:04AM (#13802995) Homepage Journal
    To quote,
    "developing countries, which are already in danger of terrorist attacks, have been singularly chosen" for providing high resolution images of their sites.
    AKA, while certain American buildings [google.com] have been photoshopped, secure establishments in India and other places haven't been accorded the same level of obfuscation. Indeed, information about these locations is generally restricted in their respective countries, just as specific information on the White House (for example) is restricted in the US.

    While a case can, indeed, be made about the need for a free flow of information, to call the information in Google Maps as "publically available information", however, is to ignore this double-standard.

  • guns don't do the shot by theiselves, you know (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Pecisk ( 688001 ) on Sunday October 16, 2005 @09:05AM (#13802999)
    I just don't get - it is so HARD to understand that it IS a human issue where terrorism rises. It is not nation vs. nation, hell, it is not even human vs. human. It is just a reaction of those sad and bad bastards who have nothing in their lives left but kill and destroy innocent lifes. Why they do that - is there someone who just TRIED to understand it?

    What caused World War II? What causes most of war? Money? Only money? Get a grip - that it is VERY complex problem usually and it is too tangerous to left solution to arms - because, hell, it don't resolve anything at all.

  • Invasion of privacy...it better not be.... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by 3seas ( 184403 ) on Sunday October 16, 2005 @09:10AM (#13803006) Homepage Journal
    ... a double standard.

    As governments (made up of people) pursue the invasion of privacy of individuals in the name of anti-terrorism than it should not be a double standard.

    What would happen if the whole world was able to look at any area and/or spot on the planet in various resolutions and as it currently is (up to date), as well as time lapse sections?

    The arguement for invasion of privacy is to prevent wrong doings and identify those pursuing such criminal direction.

    So lets apply open source software methodology to the world view of google maps and earth!!!

    Lets' identify the fuckers with their war machines and intentions....and when they argue against it, throw them in the prison of total world exposure for being intentional unfair and supporting double standards.

    Lets get Google Maps up to speed of being current!

    We need it to apply open source software methodology in riding the world of terrorism.

     

  • InfoWar (Score:5, Informative)

    by Doc Ruby ( 173196 ) on Sunday October 16, 2005 @09:29AM (#13803109) Homepage Journal
    Terrorism is the spread of fear among people for political control. The fear can be ignited by sabotage or murder, like planebombing the World Trade Center or "ethnic cleansing". The scary act itself is not the terrorism per se - the spread of the fear, and its use for political control is the actual terrorism. President Kalam has harnessed Google's act of publishing easily used satellite photos of India to spread fear, to achieve political ends. Both simply passing laws to censor Google, and any other "extra" items that get packaged in those laws, and all the international political clout he accumulates along the way. His campaign is terrorism, and Kalam is a terrorist. Terrorism is InfoWar, fought in the media, in our minds, and by ourselves against each other.

    President Kalam knows all about terrorism - he was a rocket scientist who developed missile technology that puts fear of India's nuclear force into everyone in Asia, and therefore everyone in the world. Nuclear "deterrence" is fear harnessed for geopolitical ends, and therefore terrorism. All militarism is terrorism when used for political control, as it always is.

    Terrorism is awful, unacceptable. So is the barbaric destruction terrorists harness, nearly always directed at civilians, either in "total war" or even the orwellian "collateral damage". We're so swamped with terrorism and the rhetoric about it that makes it work that we have to grow up and learn what it really is. The only cure for fear is to dispel the ignorance that lets the fear spread so widely, that lets fear of one threat contribute to control over management of another unrelated one. We have to develop the reactions to people selling fear so we can drop it. That wisdom is the only deterrence to terrorism, which makes it less successful, therefore less likely to be used. As long as terrorists get high ratings, we're doing most of their work for them, and they'll keep pumping out new products, winning, and destroying us. The more we learn to recognize them, the more we'll win. That's how we win "the war on terrorism". It's an infowar that can only be won by winning in our own minds.

    I give media execs I'd like to innoculate against terrorism copies of War and Peace in the Global Village [amazon.com]. Marshall McLuhan wrote this peppy little book about how every tech innovation in history was followed by a "new kind of warfare", including global telecommunications. Martin Fiore revised it for _Wired_ to republish, with marginal quotes from James Joyce, updating it for the Internet age. Learning its lessons is like taking a dose of terrorism vaccine. If only _Wired_ were more than tech marketing, they'd rerelease it as a Flash movie, and it would virus its way around the Net, spreading immunity as it went. When we're sophisticated enough to see that happen "spontaneously", we might show signs that we'll win the InfoWar against terrorism.

  • I want to know to whom I complain about the loss of my privacy.

    I don't want anyone being able to peep into my backyard (without a legal search warrant etc.)

    No one asked me if they could 1) take a snap of my backyard and, 2) display it publicly.

    They should have.

    Cheers,
    Ashley
  • This really sounds like they are trying to rely on security through obscurity. And we know how effective that is.

    Someone needs to wake them up from their cozy safe little dream.

    Funny though, I recall someone saying the white house and pentagon don't appear on teraserver, blocked out or something.
  • Today, Leaders of several major terrorist organizations warned that GoogleMaps could be used to aid counter-terrorsts. From the article: "The Google site contains clear aerial photos of our secret training centers, my house and surrounding tents. There are also some clear shots of our car-bomb factory, and if you zoom in really far, you can see me having sex with a camel in the back yard." Debbie Frost, spokewoman for Mountain View, California-based Google, noted that the software uses information already a
  • I have a twisted question regarding privacy: if you argue that satellite imagery should be publically accessible, what's wrong with a camera in every street, and storing the images for a long time?
  • Delhi was the first city in India to have in-car GPS [gisdevelopment.net] map systems available to the consumer. Further, an extremely detailed map of all locations in Delhi is available from several other sources. [indiamapstore.com] The only concern here is the resolution of the maps, Google Earth [google.com] can provide. The potential hazard seems to be the ability to identify independent buildings which are usually less accessible. However, for maps from aerial photographs and satellite photographs, there are companies who claim to have had access to such
  • FOOD !!!! FOOD can help Terrorists to stay alive, while planning attack. Many may agree, the the use of FOOD should be regulated and controled in some kind of way. If this is impossible, we might even consider to abolish FOOD Or even have everyone who has bought or tried to buy FOOD within the last two month before 9/11 arrested and asked some serious questions. I mean, come on - this is dangerous !! And without FOOD 9/11 would not have happened!!

  • Destroyer (Score:3, Insightful)

    by sjames ( 1099 ) on Sunday October 16, 2005 @11:04AM (#13803627) Homepage Journal

    It would seem that DHS and similar have created a new golden opportunity for terrorists everywhere.

    In the 'old days' terrorists had to mess with dangerous explosives, or if really ambitious, chemical and biological hazards. The old holy grail, dangerous nuclear material was generally out of reach.

    Today, they can create just as much terror in government and the civillian population just by thinking up something a terrorist MIGHT think of and promptly mentioning it to appropriate authorities. The kicker is that by taking that approach, they are mostly indistinguishable from 'the good guys' and still accomplish their goal.

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