TELECOM Digest OnLine - Sorted: U.S. Air Force Dislikes Google Earth Capability

U.S. Air Force Dislikes Google Earth Capability

Kristin Roberts, Reuters (reuters@telecom-digest.org)
Sun, 24 Jun 2007 14:03:26 -0500

By Kristin Roberts

The head of U.S. Air Force intelligence and surveillance on Thursday
said data available commercially through online mapping software such as
Google Earth posed a danger to security but could not be rolled back.

"To talk about danger is, if I may, really is irrelevant because it's
there," said Lt. Gen. David Deptula, deputy chief of staff for
intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance.

"No one's going to undo commercial satellite imagery," he told
reporters in Washington.

Deptula cited Google Inc.'s Google Earth, which gives Web users an
astronaut's view of the earth and allows them to zoom down to street
level. He said it had provided anyone with a credit card the ability
to get a picture of any place on earth.

"It is huge," he said. "It's something that was a closely guarded
secret not that long ago and now everybody's got access to it."

Asked if the U.S. military might try to implement restrictions or
blackouts on imagery of some areas, Deptula said he was not aware of
such an attempt.

"I don't want to speak to specifics, but not that I'm aware of," he
said.

Instead, governments are trying to mitigate the effect through
camouflage, concealment and deception, he said, providing no other
details.

Copyright 2007 Reuters Limited.

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