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The Pentagon asked Google yesterday to remove some photos it had taken of a military base for its Street View service, which appears on Google Maps.
The driver of a Street View car was given access to the Fort Sam Houston base after telling a base official that Google would not photograph or videotape on the premises. The official thought an online map would be helpful to visitors.
When the photos appeared on Google Maps, the Pentagon contacted Google and asked that they be removed. Google took down the images within 24 hours. Gary Ross, spokesman for the U.S. Northern Command, said the photos posted on the Web could be a security threat.
"We don't have any issues regarding Google and their products, which are very useful tools," Ross told the L.A. Times. "But the Street View provides clear imagery of control points, barriers, headquarters and security facilities that pose a risk to our force-protection efforts."
Google spokesman Larry Yu said the Street View driver violated Google's strict policy of not going onto military bases and private property. "Against our policy, we did mistakenly access the base," Yu said.
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Comments
google maps of military base
In order to gain acces to military installations you have to pass through a guarded checkpoint, i many cases those check points are located at the installation's main entrance.
I was stationed at Ft. Sam Houson, Fort Gordon, Ft. Mclelan, Fort Hood,and Fort Irwin and let me tell you most of them had other entrances that did not have a check point.
Also, you can't tel me that family members, fiends and the service members themselves don't ever take accessable pictures of the installatins.
All this said, I agree with the Pentagram, I mean Pentagn asking the pics to be removed. Having the pics so readily availabe isn't a good idea these days.
I don't get it...
Re-read 2nd paragraph
You gotta re-read the second paragraph of the article. It DID state that the person "representing" Google was asked NOT to photograph or videotape the premises. That person violated the condition that allowed him on the base. The military had every right to ask that the images be taken down. They never gave clearance for Google to put those images up.
I myself have never heard of an "open base" where just about anyone can walk onto the base. Is Fort Sam Houston one of those bases? In this post 9/11 world, security everywhere is beefed up. You can't even go through Grand Central Station or Penn Station in New York without seeing at least one roving patrol of an armed soldier. Heck, even West Point Military Academy (near where I live) has a full vehicle inspection and ID check by military personnel (in full battle gear) - and that's just to go to the restaurant at their hotel!
Think about it: If the average citizen can see the ground-level layout of a military base, so could members of a terrorist cell looking to wreck havock. The military has no way of controlling who can see what over the Internet. They CAN do that with a security check of people walking onto the base.
What's not to get?
Have you ever tried to gain access to a military base? It's not like you can drive up to the gates and say "Oh I'm just here to look around." You will be told to hit your feet. To be a visitor, you need to have a legitimate reason to be a visitor. The average Joe can not just say, Oh I was wondering what's behind those gates and what all the security is for. Honesty, do you really not get it?? And if it's Google you don't get....Did you expect them to respond, Oh my god, we'll get those down immediately. I personally would like to see the person who violated "Google’s policy," gained access to the base, and then lied about what he was doing get punished.
Open bases
You never heard of or never been on an "open base"?
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