The Hindu : National : Camouflaging sensitive sites from satellites

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Apr 04, 2006

National

National

Camouflaging sensitive sites from satellites

Special Correspondent

Universal effort needed to guard against Google Earth images: Army Chief

Gen. J.J Singh

NEW DELHI: Maintaining that it was not for the Army to take steps to curb the images of sensitive installations being shown on Google Earth, Chief of Army Staff J.J. Singh on Monday called for a multinational effort to address the problem. The Army on its part was devising strategies to camouflage its locations from the prying satellites overflying the country.

"This [satellite images] definitely would give [an] advantage to our adversaries. We concede that these satellite images do compromise our sensitive and strategic sites. But we are not the only ones affected. So a major universal effort has to be there to get it blocked," Gen. Singh said after addressing a defence seminar organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) here.

Google Earth is free software that combines satellite and aerial images with mapping capabilities. It allows Internet surfers to see high-resolution flyover images of practically every monument and installation in the world, including homes and streets to markings of fighters planes parked at air bases round the world.

Gen. Singh is the latest among a number of senior officials from many countries to complain about the intrusive nature of the free Google Earth software. Other officials pointed out that the problem stems from a lack of restrictions on overflying of satellites and on image resolution (clarity of pictures). They clarified that the Army Chief was not suggesting putting filters or asking Google to block its service as has been done or requested by China and Myanmar.

`Not a threat'

On the other hand, an agency reported Google as saying that its satellite pictures of sensitive installations posed no threat to India. "Google Earth is built from information that is already available from a wide range of both commercial and public sources. As such, Google Earth presents no appreciable threat to security, given the wide commercial availability of high-resolution satellite and aerial imagery of every country in the world.

"Google has been talking and will continue to talk to the Indian Government about any security concerns it may have regarding Google Earth. We are pleased to have the dialogue, which has been substantive and constructive," a Google spokesperson told PTI from the company headquarters in California.

"Google's freely available technology has been used for vital purposes ranging from fighting forest fires to emergency response, rescue, and relief in natural disasters such as the Kashmir earthquake relief efforts and the Mithi river floodplain project," said the spokesperson.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail