• Pictures of Strategic Sites to Blur!

    Pictures of Strategic Sites to Blur!

    Techtree News Staff, Feb 05, 2007 1653 hrs IST

    Google is finally addressing concerns raised by the President of India over Google Earth's use of high res satellite images of sensitive Indian sites...

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Finally, Google is addressing concerns raised by the President of India, Shri A P J Abdul Kalam, over Google Earth's liberal use of high resolution satellite images of "sensitive" Indian establishments, including the Rashtrapati Bhavan, the national defense headquarters, airfields, and so on.

Last year, not only the Indian President but countries including South Korea and Thailand raised objection to the ready availability of high resolution pictures of "sensitive" areas on Google Earth, citing possible misuse by terrorists and other anti-national elements as reason.

After several deliberations between the Government of India and Google, it is now agreed upon that Google Earth will offer fuzzy, low resolution pictures of "sensitive" establishments, and will distort building plans so as to thwart any attempt at espionage or sabotage.

At a recent meeting between officials from the Ministry of Science and Technology, and those from Google Earth, it has been decided that the Government of India will identify and enlist all "sensitive" installations/sites, and that Google Earth will carefully camouflage the same.

Between camouflaging areas of strategic importance, and totally blacking them out, the decision weighed in favor of the lesser evil simply because it was felt this would attract less amount of attention to these sites.

So, images of sensitive locations on Google Earth will now be not more than 25-50 meter in resolution - somewhat like the pictures provided by yesteryears' satellites.

And, sources reveal that Google Earth will distort building plans too. For instance, structures will be added where none existed, or some aspects of a facility will be masked - without attracting undue attention to it - be it a laboratory or a military site or an Atomic Center or the residence of some high-flying VIP.

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Discussion Board
(13) Comments
NOYB
,NOYB, on Jun 07, 2007 07:12 PM
kalaam $ucks dogs balls.
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Pavan K Vemuri
,Vancouver, on Feb 07, 2007 06:02 AM
Wouldnt that make the sites more obvious? Now the terrorists who didnt know where our military bases are, will know the exact locations to search for. Wont they? Atleast make a few fake targets for the heck of it.
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Rajat Guha
,Bangalore, on Feb 06, 2007 07:00 PM
GREAT...!!!! At least Goverment may not be able to see the poorest condition of the village workers,Roads at outskirts of the metro city are in a great pathetic ,broken condition,huge no of green fields or lands are now in totally dry condition no cultivation, drainage water for the rural area,historical constructions are now going to be reigned & maintained by some animals at the jungle side area, the tourists spots are in now-a-days great demand but people can not see those places through some better use of technology(internet),what else.......Sabbas india ..sabbas....""" EVERY RULE HAS NEGATIVE ADVANTAGE ...""" SO LET'S GO AHEAD WITH THE MOST EASIEST NEGATIVE ATTITUDE TO COMPETE WITH THE DEVELOPING COUNTRY......
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walweb
,netherlands, on Feb 06, 2007 02:38 PM
Looking for more blur on satellitepictures easy by address and worldwide? PICSFROMSPACE, Lookup Your Place By Address, since september 12th more then 250,000 times requested at: http://www.walweb.nl/picsfromspace
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ANSUMAN PAIKRAY
,BHUBANESWAR, on Feb 06, 2007 11:05 AM
this has been a welcome decision and is in favour of the nation.though google earth providesthese images may be illegally used by global terrorirst.we should have a control over the use of technology.
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Indian
,delhi, on Feb 06, 2007 10:46 AM
well, well well... so finally our government has managed to negotiate with google. Hmmm wish they can provide our government the list of all those who might have downloaded the maps so far. By blacking out the so called places of importance (can some one pl. explain me how imortant the rashtrapati bhavan, loksabha etc are ?) we can convey them that yes we have a very important place out here but dont wanna show you :)
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Kingshuk Biswas
,Kolkata, on Feb 06, 2007 10:41 AM
It sounds good to hear that google has taken the step to camouflage important buildings in India. This step should have been taken much earlier. Cheers! http://www.webinfotain.com
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Amit
,Los Angeles, on Feb 06, 2007 06:03 AM
The important thing is that these politicians should not take undue advantage of this deal by blurring out places where they have made their illegal palaces. On the other hand, what could the Indian government do to stop terrorists from attacking the Parliament - it was not on google earth at that time. And if we look at statistics, we will see that terrorists dont attack strategic places but places of commute and where there are lot of people. Tackle that first. Dont waste time on google earth.
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george pallikun
,Dublin, on Feb 06, 2007 03:04 AM
the threat indicated is a true factor as googleearth view shows very clear pictures and it can help wrong people for a wrong cause what google has done is also goodthing no controversies both parties happy.. i am a fan of google earth i feel bad on this but i accept the proposal for the safty of the country
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Soundara Rajan
,chennai, on Feb 05, 2007 10:40 PM
It seems to be a down to the Earth decision on the part of Google in making amends to its view of The Earth at the request of GOI.But how long?is the Question looming above!
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Aditya Sanyal
,Chennai, on Feb 05, 2007 08:01 PM
Well, its happening... the infy mysore campus has been blurred out. what about the maps (roads leading to these places) will they be masked too?
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Anonymous
,Belgaum, on Feb 05, 2007 07:24 PM
My only concern is that by revealing its strategic locations to Google, India might be putting itself in a position where exposure of national secrets from within cannot be ruled out. Google maintains confidentiality very strictly and that might be a good consolation.
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walweb
,netherlands, on Feb 05, 2007 07:09 PM
Looking for more blur on satellitepictures easy by address and worldwide? PICSFROMSPACE, Lookup Your Place By Address, since september 12th more then 250,000 times requested at: http://www.walweb.nl/picsfromspace
Report abuse

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