Security Complaints Orbit Google Earth

India has followed South Korea in voicing national security concerns about the high-quality images on Google Earth.

When Google acquired satellite image firm Keyhole in 2004, they anticipated using the technology to help it better deliver search results complemented with 3D images of anyplace on the planet.

Some countries haven’t seen it this way. South Korea has communicated with Washington about problems it perceives in having pictures of military sites and the presidential palace so easily available online.

India joined in the chorus when a space policy analyst there expressed concern that a lack of a “global policy” regarding the taking of pictures by satellites has led to security concerns there.

“Due to a lack of a global policy, it would hard to prohibit a satellite of a foreign country to take images of any sensitive Indian location. That’s where most of these dual purpose technologies, may it be remote sensing or GPS, needs a better global policy,” Rediff.com quoted the analyst, K V Ganpathy, as saying.

The images in question have been available from several sources online before Google ever started Google Earth. But no one has ever made them freely available in such a user-friendly fashion either.

David Utter is a staff writer for WebProNews covering technology and business. Email him here.