Google accused of spying on Israel

[STEED]

Google accused of spying on Israel

Mossad agents have it in for Google HQ

By Nick Farrell: Friday 16 June 2006, 15:01
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THE ISRAELI government has accused the search engine Google of spying on military installations in the Promised Land.
It is not that Serge and Brin have been out there with their box brownies snapping the pictures of the nuclear weapons that the country doesn't have, it is more that Google Earth is now providing some jolly nice pictures of the country.
Originally sensitive to a nation which is more militarized than Ancient Sparta, Google had only previously shown low-resolutions snaps of Israel.
However, last week Google suddenly improved the service so that it matched the same standards that it has for the rest of the world.
Unfortunately, that means that you might see a French delivery of weapons-grade plutonium if there happened to be any being delivered, which there never is, of course.
One of the pictures is includes a top-secret power station located near the southern city of Ashkelon. It does not feature snaps of the Israeli nuclear facility in the Negev desert, which Google knew about.
A SpokesGoogle said it was Israeli Internet users who demanded improvements to the service. The usual method for the Israelis of dealing with people who potentially reveal its secrets is to set a honey trap with a shapely Mossad agent, kidnap the spy, and force them to stand trial in Israel. We hope Serge and Brin are aware of that. µ

http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=32477

Gotcha, Google up to no good.

[Oberon]

Dammit, I've been rumbled....

Should have stuck with the Finns...

[STEED]

Originally Posted by Oberon

Dammit, I've been rumbled....

Should have stuck with the Finns...

:rotfl: :rotfl:

[TteFAboB]

That's Google Earth for you.

I never understood why military facilities aren't removed from it. Who wants to see a Nuclear plant, a base or whatever from the sky?

You want to look and check how safe it is? Or how unsafe it is?

Wouldn't mind if the Mossad started a trend with Google to make them add a tiny bit of responsability to their service.

If they accept, like other search engines, to agree with Chinese censorship, I don't see why Google would bother removing Nuclear power plants and what not from the Google Earth per request. Replace the area with a big black box with the saying: "Nothing to see here, move along".

Classic.

In fact, I live in one of the high-res areas, I'd ask to have my home removed from Google Earth, but I was lucky enough to have the picture taken at a time of the day where my house is completely overshadowed by taller buildings to the East and West.

I wonder what's a possible defense from satellite spying. A giant mirror on the roof? A black roof? Camo nets?

[August]

Originally Posted by TteFAboB

I wonder what's a possible defense from satellite spying. A giant mirror on the roof? A black roof? Camo nets?

Grape vines.

[The Noob]

Originally Posted by TteFAboB

Who wants to see a Nuclear plant, a base or whatever from the sky?

Me!

Originally Posted by TteFAboB

If they accept, like other search engines, to agree with Chinese censorship, I don't see why Google would bother removing Nuclear power plants and what not from the Google Earth per request. Replace the area with a big black box with the saying: "Nothing to see here, move along".

Censorship sucks. I guess i don't have to Explain why. Who want's Censorship? Me don't!

Originally Posted by TteFAboB

In fact, I live in one of the high-res areas, I'd ask to have my home removed from Google Earth, but I was lucky enough to have the picture taken at a time of the day where my house is completely overshadowed by taller buildings to the East and West.

Why do you wanted your home removed from Google Earth? Do you frear the russians nuke you? LOL!

[CCIP]

Originally Posted by The Noob

Me!

Agreed. Who doesn't want to see this stuff?

Elementary psychology. Everyone wants to see anything that could remotely be labeled 'secret'.

[The Noob]

Originally Posted by CCIP

Elementary psychology. Everyone wants to see anything that could remotely be labeled 'secret'.

So What?:p

*Stares at German Airbase...*

[Yahoshua]

Wow....first it's Yahoo complying to Chinese censorship.....now its Google posting photos of sensitive military installations.

Wouldn't this be technically assisting people who we don't want to help? LIke drug smugglers along the border, or a wonderful way to plan out terror aqttacks and memorize escape routes with much more accuracy than before?

I wonder if I can find Iraqi military bases with their sattelites?

[TteFAboB]

Originally Posted by The Noob

Me!

Did you tried the measuring tools yet?

Originally Posted by TteFAboB

If they accept, like other search engines, to agree with Chinese censorship, I don't see why Google would bother removing Nuclear power plants and what not from the Google Earth per request. Replace the area with a big black box with the saying: "Nothing to see here, move along".

Censorship sucks. I guess i don't have to Explain why. Who want's Censorship? Me don't![/quote]

Yes, the point is: search engines like Google accepted to block any keywords the Chinese government tells them to.

You see, some "Free Tibet!" site is more dangerous than some user catching a forced-mass-abortion taking place or the Death Van on the roll. Apparently letting Google Earth spy the vastness of China is not a problem. Letting all the Google Earth Community funny remarks pop-up all over China also doesn't seem to be a problem. This software is full of "enemies of the people", but I better shup up before I give them any ideas.

Elementary Irony on my part.

Elementary blindness on the Chinese. (Blindness, that's another elementary irony)

Originally Posted by TteFAboB

In fact, I live in one of the high-res areas, I'd ask to have my home removed from Google Earth, but I was lucky enough to have the picture taken at a time of the day where my house is completely overshadowed by taller buildings to the East and West.

Why do you wanted your home removed from Google Earth? Do you frear the russians nuke you? LOL![/quote]

Not really, the thing is nobody asked me permission to take a picture of it.

I'd like to find out how this whole thing works, how much does it cost Google, whose satellite is it anyway?

If I knew my house was going to roughly appear on Google Earth I'd have taken the time to paint "Nuke HERE!" on the roof for some amusement. I wonder if they ever update the pictures, then I'd get a second chance.

But I still can't believe there isn't any gimmick to counter this. How about burning the satellite with some sort of laser beam? Grab that laser used to measure the distance to the Moon, convert it into a Death Ray, figure where the satellite is at the given time and fire. Yes? No?

How about the Giant Mirror again, if you could focus a beam of light back in the direction of the satellite when it's taking the picture, would that ruin the photo or at least put a big specular where the mirror is at?

I understand the military does the camo approach since it's useless to hide tank batallions and etc., so they probably don't bother with it and if necessary would probably attack the enemy satellite itself, so we have no easy solution from them. But what about civilians? It's difficult to sabotage Google's effort because they don't advertise when the next high-resolution picture will be taken, but someone out there must have thought of a defense for this, and probably it's something quite simple, like grape vines.

Google time.

[Yahoshua]

Is this an example of the Google sat? (It's a sattelite pic of a rural house just north of Pocatello Idaho).

That house with what lookes like two rows od dots around it is where I live right now...only one row of trees now though, and we built a barn and have some goat pens built. And an Alfalfa field on the south side next to the main canal.

http://local.live.com/default.aspx?v...style=h&lvl=16

Well, now that you all know where to find me.....anyone here likes Goat Cheese?

[Drebbel]

Looks like the Dutch have better connections with Google. Look what google did to the Dutch Ministry of Defence a couple of weeks ago:






Same for our Airforce HQ

[XabbaRus]

Ridiculous. I don't see what is so irresponsible with Google Earth showing images of nuclear stations, bases etc. They are sat photos for gods sake and people want to see the stuff. Also its not as if they were taken yesterday. Sure I could see how you could work out some decetn approach angles to facilities, but it isn't stuff that couldn't be worked out with a decent map of the area, photographs taken on a recce.

I thought something like this would happen. Some govt. somewhere would be unhappy that there are decent res pics of some facility. Soon govts. are going to want the service cut back as it could aid potential terrorists. Rubbish, as if google earth makes it any easier. Pretty sure any terrorist worth his salt would use a bit more than GE to plan his attack.

As for asking for your house to be removed is that not being a bit oversensitive?
What about those aerial photo companies who fly about and take pictures of your house and then try and sell them to you what can you do? I think there is a big difference between a sat photo and someone taking apicture of your house from the street.

What about someone who is taking a photograph of your street for some reason a brouchure or just because it could make a good picture? Are you going to ask them not to take it or black it out?

I think GE is great.

[STEED]

This reminds me of the British plane spotters who got arrested in Greece some years ago they were charged with spying. Granted this is a different issue, never the less the whole thing is nothing more than a storm in a tea cup.

[Oberon]

It's not exactly that difficult to view various terrorist targets in Britain...



Taken about five hours ago.