The Hindu : Front Page : Kalam's concern over Google Earth service

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Oct 16, 2005

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Kalam's concern over Google Earth service

HYDERABAD: President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam on Saturday expressed concern over a free mapping programme from Google Inc. that he said could help terrorists by providing aerial photos of potential targets.

Google Earth, an Internet Web site launched in June this year, allows users to access overlapping satellite photos. Though not all areas are highly detailed, some images are very high resolution, and some show sensitive locations in various countries.

``You will realise that some of the developing countries, which are already in danger of terrorist attacks, have been singularly chosen to provide such high resolutions,'' Mr. Kalam told a meeting of top police officials here. South Korea, Netherlands and Thailand have expressed similar concerns.

South Korea has already raised the issue with the United States. South Korean newspaper reports have said the Google Earth service provides images of the Presidential Blue House and military bases in the country, which remains technically at war with communist North Korea. On India, the Google site contains clear aerial photos of the Parliament building, President's house and surrounding government offices in New Delhi. There are also some clear shots of Indian defence establishments. — AP

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