Should Google Earth be banned?

[m42]

In light of the recent intel that asserts Google Earth aided in this months deadly Mumbai attacks, Indian courts are being urged to ban Google Earth from not only sensitive locations, but all of India.

Are they overreacting? Should Google Earth be banned?

[chicgeek]

Definitely not! The reality is that Google Earth and other similar services are reflections of today's technology and social needs. It is had been accepted as a requirement of the tech-savvy society, of which the population of India is definitely a part.

Ultimately, the restriction of Google Earth would be an unwelcome censorship. In addition, the location information can be extrapolated through other means anyway... and it would be only an inconvenience for malicious parties while it would be an absolutely unreasonable disadvantage for the general public.

[Ferre]

In that line of thinking...

- Terrorists use public transport, let's ban public transport.
- Terrorists use road maps, let's ban road maps.
- Terrorists use the internet, let's ban the internet
- Terrorists use phones, let's ban phones.

While we are at it, let's ban clothes, all terrorists use them.

[JohnO]

Originally Posted by Ferre

In that line of thinking...

- Terrorists use public transport, let's ban public transport.
- Terrorists use road maps, let's ban road maps.
- Terrorists use the internet, let's ban the internet
- Terrorists use phones, let's ban phones.

While we are at it, let's ban clothes, all terrorists use them.

Exactly

[chicgeek]

That's a MUCH better way of putting it. Thanks for showing me up, Ferre.

[Ferre]

Now I'm at it, let's ban food too, terrorists use food.

[EverybodyGeek]

Google Earth should not be banned.
But privacy is important, so it should be possible to ask Google to show less detail of some areas in case of a good reason.

[T0d]

We need to ban pencils too because they hurt when you stab yourself with them and gotta ban erasers since lil kiddos can choke on them seriously no one is held responsible these days. It just goes up the ladder until someone has no money to fight it, etc.. very ridiculous.

[RichDev]

Silly be banned Google Earth, the good project.

[coated]

Google Earth shouldn't be banned....it's such a valuable resource...I suppose they could blur out restricted areas, I know they already do this to a certain extent.

[theredheadknows]

Nothing should be banned, well, except maybe stupidity. That is the issue, education is the solution. Education in all things of all people and celebrate difference, IMHO. The Redhead

[KGCustoms]

I say ban *anything* Google; that's just my opinion though.

(For the record, Yahoo is my search engine of choice, Live Maps are better than Google's, GMail is the only reasonably decent Google product I use regularly)

[theredheadknows]

It's interesting to see how the masses herd. Thanks for the info on Yahoo, The Redhead

[antirem]

Ok.. so if we ban that info then the only people who have are goverments? Im very against that.

[Pacman]

Not banned but limited. They should be banned from showing the certain types of objects and places.

[micoblanco]

I voted for "NO". Google Earth is such an amazing service and besides... it is such an amazing feeling to see children (my young friends ) being delighted because they can see their houses in the computer.

[mrmitch]

Part of me says yes because I find it creepy that a van drives down my street periodically to take snap shots of the neighborhood. All in all I don't think it should be banned, I think it should be regulated so there isn't any abuse.

[rypher21]

no, they shouldn't ban google earth for that reason...there are lot of things that should be considered than focusing on banning this site...

[lloyd.velarde@gmail.]

i don't think it is proper to banned google earth, it is one of the unique and interesting services by google where you can explore rich geographical places. maybe it can limit the accessibility of the service...

[@Jason]

no it shoudnt be banned, its great i love google earth