Google’s Street View Images Put Pentagon On Fire

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Google's Street View Images Put Pentagon On Fire

Have you ever imagined Google threatening national security? Me neither, but the Pentagon did, as they requested the removal of several images on Google Maps of the Fort Sam Houston in Texas. At the same time, Google has been banned from filming or photographing inside the base.

"We don't have any issues regarding Google and their products, which are very useful tools," Gary Ross, U.S. Northern Command spokesman said, Los Angeles Times reports. "But the Street View provides clear imagery of control points, barriers, headquarters and security facilities that pose a risk to our force-protection efforts."

One of the things the Pentagon was most concerned about was that the pictures showed the exact positions of all the guards, entrance and exits out of the buildings, and other details on military installations.

Google responded to the accusations by saying they have never taken images or video shoots without authorization. The Street View car, equipped with a camera that takes ground images of different objectives, was granted access inside the military base.

Not all images have been pulled out however from the site, as many of them have been taken from outside the military base, from what can be considered a public domain. The Pentagon had no authority to remove them too.

Google complied with the demands after being contacted by the military, spokesman Larry Yu confirmed. At the same time, he said it is against Google's policy to take pictures inside the base, as Street View is about images taken from public streets, adding that they were taken by mistake in this case.

Street View is a feature Google added to Google maps in 2007, which provides panoramic views in cities across the United States from ground level. For the time being, the service functions only in the U.S. but is expected to go outside the country as well.

Source: eFluxMedia