Censorship & Security

Google Street View Meets Canadian Privacy Laws
Google Street View isn’t even available for Canadian locations yet, but already Google is running afoul of Canada’s strict privacy legislation. The Ottawa Citizen’s Vito Pilieci has a couple of stories about Google Street View in Canada: this one on the presence of Google’s camera vehicles on Canadian streets, and…   Read more →
Posted on Friday, March 27, 2009 at 1:51 PM
Categories: Censorship & Security, Online Maps
California Assemblyman Wants to Censor Satellite Imagery
Stupid Republican California Assemblyman Joel Anderson has introduced a bill to censor online satellite imagery of public buildings. “His bill would restrict the images such Web sites could post online. Clear, detailed images of schools, hospitals, churches and all government buildings — what he calls soft terrorism targets — would…   Read more →
1
Posted on Tuesday, March 3, 2009 at 3:03 PM
Categories: Censorship & Security, Satellite & Aerial
Google Latitude’s Implications
Analysts, observers and pundits are trying to grapple with the implications of Google’s Latitude, which is apparently new enough to confound our expectations about location awareness and privacy. Privacy International says that security flaws could endanger user privacy: “PI has determined that the Google system lacks adequate safeguards to protect…   Read more →
Posted on Tuesday, February 17, 2009 at 7:35 PM
Categories: Censorship & Security, Geolocation Services
Mapping the Inauguration: A Roundup
Last month, the Armed Services Inauguration Committee revealed to the public a 40×40-foot map used to plan the inauguration (via Vector One); another view is here (thumbnail above; via MapHist). New Google Earth imagery for Washington, D.C. finally de-pixellates the U.S. Naval Observatory; censored aerial imagery is being replaced…   Read more →
Posted on Tuesday, January 20, 2009 at 8:19 AM
Categories: Big Maps, Censorship & Security, Current Events, Google Earth, Satellite & Aerial
British Students Fined for Collecting GPS Data in Xinjiang
In October, a group of British graduate students was fined by the Chinese authorities for illegal map-making activity, the Daily Telegraph reports. (See also AFP coverage: Google, Yahoo; AFP reports three students, the Telegraph only two.) The students were researching earthquake activity in the tense Xinjiang region; they had received…   Read more →
Posted on Thursday, January 8, 2009 at 10:29 AM
Categories: Censorship & Security
India’s Mapping Panic Continues
Last month’s terrorist attacks in Mumbai have apparently triggered India’s long-simmering moral panic about maps, satellite imagery and security in general, and Google Earth in particular. A petition has been filed before the Bombay High Court demanding a ban on Google Earth and similar services because the gunmen used satellite…   Read more →
Posted on Monday, December 15, 2008 at 8:27 PM
Categories: Censorship & Security, Google Earth, Surveying
GPS and the Law
Beginning in January, Californians will be able to use windshield-mounted GPS units; Minnesota is apparently the only remaining U.S. state that prohibits mounting navigation units on the inside of your windshield. Meanwhile, Egypt is one of only three countries — the other two are Syria and North Korea, auspicious company…   Read more →
Posted on Saturday, October 18, 2008 at 7:21 AM
Categories: Censorship & Security, GPS
Google and Censorship Debunked
This is worth reading: Stefan debunks a number of recent reports alleging that Google caved to government requests to censor imagery; among the articles fact-checked is the well-circulated 51 Things You Aren’t Allowed to See on Google Maps, which we saw in July. Where imagery is blurred in Google Earth,…   Read more →
Posted on Sunday, September 14, 2008 at 9:19 AM
Categories: Censorship & Security, Google Earth
The Survey of India Isn’t Helping
Ravi Vyas is after the Survey of India again; in a piece in the Telegraph of Calcutta, he documents a small change the Survey has made to speed up its approval process: Under existing copyright laws, any map of India, and this includes historical maps dating back to Vedic times,…   Read more →
Posted on Sunday, September 14, 2008 at 7:59 AM
Categories: Censorship & Security
51 Things You Aren’t Allowed to See on Google Maps
Blurred Out: 51 Things You Aren’t Allowed to See on Google Maps, a compilation of locations whose aerial imagery has been obscured in Google Earth and Maps. Categories range from government and military facilities to power generation sites; the list includes instances of pushback against Street View as well. Thanks…   Read more →
Posted on Friday, July 18, 2008 at 10:23 AM
Categories: Censorship & Security, Google Earth, Online Maps, Satellite & Aerial
Spertus Institute Closes Controversial Show
Imaginary Coordinates, a controversial exhibition that juxtaposed contemporary Israeli and Palestinian art with antique maps of the region, has been closed prematurely by the Spertus Institute of Jewish Studies, which had been putting on the show as part of Chicago’s Festival of Maps. It had originally been scheduled through September,…   Read more →
Posted on Sunday, June 22, 2008 at 3:37 PM
Categories: Art, Censorship & Security, Chicago Festival of Maps
More Google News: Banned in Minnesota; New Developer Blog
Two more recent Google-related items: North Oaks, a rather xenophobic town in Minnesota — the streets are privately owned — has asked Google to remove it from Street View; Google has complied with the town’s request. Google’s gotten into trouble for its cameras trespassing on private property; the twist here…   Read more →
Posted on Monday, June 2, 2008 at 4:06 PM
Categories: Blogs, Censorship & Security, Hacks & Mashups, Online Maps
Chinese Map Crackdown Names Google
The Chinese government’s crackdown on doubleplus-ungood online maps that perpetrate crimethink progresses; now the investigation is naming names. Agence France-Presse: “China has launched an investigation into online mapping services by Internet giants including Google and Sohu in an effort to protect state secrets and territorial integrity, state press said. ……   Read more →
Posted on Monday, May 12, 2008 at 8:00 AM
Categories: Censorship & Security
Chinese Government Goes After Mapping Sites
Xinhua: “The Chinese government is to crack down on illegal online map and geographical information websites, claiming they threaten state security, said an official of the State Bureau of Surveying and Mapping (SBSM) on Tuesday.” Crimes perpetrated by evildoers range from publishing sensitive information that poses a security risk to…   Read more →
Posted on Wednesday, March 26, 2008 at 11:39 AM
Categories: Censorship & Security
Google Maps Street View and Privacy, Redux
An article in the San Antonio Express-News about the privacy implications of Google Maps Street View — there was a flurry of media coverage about this last year, so they’re definitely playing catchup — and the means available to get yourself removed from the street-level imagery. The article asks whether…   Read more →
Posted on Tuesday, March 18, 2008 at 12:35 PM
Categories: Censorship & Security, Online Maps
Google Street View Images of Military Bases Removed
Reuters (via the Washington Post): “Google Inc. has complied with a request by the Pentagon to remove some online images from its street-level map service because they pose a security threat to U.S. military bases, military and company officials said on Thursday. … The images that worry the Pentagon include…   Read more →
Posted on Saturday, March 8, 2008 at 6:39 AM
Categories: Censorship & Security
India Stamps Publications’ ‘Incorrect’ Maps at the Border
The Sunday Express on how the delivery of foreign publications in India is delayed if they have the temerity to publish a map of India that does not conform to the officially recognized boundaries: Every edition which carries a map of India — particularly one depicting the Indo-Pak border —…   Read more →
Posted on Sunday, March 2, 2008 at 7:57 PM
Categories: Censorship & Security
Google, Censorship and Washington, D.C.: An Update
Nikolas Schiller writes: The other day you featured my analysis concerning Google’s censorship of downtown Washington, D.C. I am contacting you with two updates concerning this research. 1. I discovered that the area in question is the exact same area that features Google’s 3D buildings (Google is placing priority of…   Read more →
Posted on Monday, July 30, 2007 at 9:31 PM
Categories: Censorship & Security, Google Earth, Satellite & Aerial
Google, Censorship and Washington, D.C.
Nikolas Schiller writes to point out an article in today’s Washington Post about Google’s updated imagery of Washington, D.C., and how Google massaged the fact that the most recent imagery available — 2005 imagery from the USGS — censored several sensitive locations in the U.S. capital: The newer photos on…   Read more →
Posted on Sunday, July 22, 2007 at 7:51 PM
Categories: Censorship & Security, Google Earth, Satellite & Aerial
Google Street View Privacy Roundup
A roundup of links about Google Street View and its privacy implications (mostly) that have been accumulating in my queue for the past few weeks. Slate: Google Spies on America. This Denver Post editorial also raises some concerns about “personal security.” (The editorial also says that “Amazon.com abandoned its photographic…   Read more →
Posted on Tuesday, June 26, 2007 at 10:00 AM
Categories: Censorship & Security, Online Maps
Censoring Satellite Imagery at the Source
Even though the new street-level imagery from Google is getting all the attention lately, the issue of censoring satellite and aerial imagery has not gone away. Not by a long shot. Via Ogle Earth: Henri Willox noted yesterday that French air bases are now pixellated in Google Earth — a…   Read more →
1
Posted on Monday, June 4, 2007 at 1:58 PM
Categories: Censorship & Security, Google Earth, Satellite & Aerial
Google Maps Street View: Moral Panic Update
Boing Boing’s Xeni Jardin asks, “Would we feel differently about street-level image mapping if it were done by a government agency? … Cameras aren’t new, maps aren’t new, the internet isn’t new, nor is Google or Microsoft. So why does this feel so freshly creepy to so many?” Xeni also…   Read more →
Posted on Monday, June 4, 2007 at 8:30 AM
Categories: Censorship & Security, Online Maps
NY Times on Street View and Privacy
The story of the privacy implications of Google’s Street View (see previous entry) has now been picked up by the New York Times. Meanwhile, scouring Street View for interesting or amusing images is turning into another pastime, as it was when Google Earth was first released: Wired’s Threat Level, Streetviewr….   Read more →
Posted on Friday, June 1, 2007 at 11:22 AM
Categories: Censorship & Security, Online Maps
Google Maps Street View and Privacy
When you consider the privacy concerns — freakouts, really — that were raised when the online map sites made satellite and aerial imagery readily available, it’s not surprising that there would be similar concerns raised about the street-level imagery announced by Google yesterday. I am surprised, though, that it took…   Read more →
Posted on Wednesday, May 30, 2007 at 8:18 PM
Categories: Censorship & Security, Online Maps
Shanghai Cracks Down on ‘Problem Maps’
The municipal government of Shanghai is cracking down on “problem” maps. Key grafs from an announcement that is the epitome of Commie turgidity: [F]rom time to time, on maps that appeared in a variety of newspapers and periodicals, on TV and the Internet, in advertisements, stationery commodities, handicrafts, souvenirs, and…   Read more →
Posted on Thursday, May 10, 2007 at 10:37 AM
Categories: Censorship & Security
Maps Must Be Cleared by the Survey of India
This opinion piece in The Telegraph of Calcutta discusses the increasingly irrelevant requirement that the Survey of India — that bastion of government efficiency — clear all maps of India before they’re published in that country. Because someone might see the country with the wrong boundary or something. “If a…   Read more →
1
Posted on Friday, April 20, 2007 at 9:36 AM
Categories: Censorship & Security
Google Earth Banned in 15 Countries?
A post on Valleywag, which I will quote here because I’m guessing most of you missed it, about Google Earth: “We’re hearing a rumor that the service, which overlays satellite imagery over a map grid, is actually forbidden in no fewer than 15 countries. Anyone have the list?” True or…   Read more →
Posted on Thursday, March 29, 2007 at 8:01 AM
Categories: Censorship & Security, Google Earth
Russia Lifts Imagery and GPS Restrictions
The Russian government has lifted a (widely ignored) ban on the use of high-resolution images and high-accuracy GPS. Reuters: Until now, global positioning systems that helped locate ground objects more precisely than in a radius of 30 metres (98 ft), have been formally outlawed in Russia for security reasons. Images…   Read more →
Posted on Wednesday, December 20, 2006 at 9:02 AM
Categories: Censorship & Security, GPS
Seattle 911 Mashup Falls to Security Concerns
The API is only one half of a map mashup; the other half is the data being plotted on the map. In many cases, mashup makers do not own the data they’re mapping, but are using public (or at least publicly available) sources. This means that the data source’s availability…   Read more →
Posted on Tuesday, October 17, 2006 at 8:26 PM
Categories: Censorship & Security, Hacks & Mashups
East German Maps and State Security
Jeff Thurston got his hands on what sounds like an interesting book: State Security and Mapping in the German Democratic Republic is a collection of papers on East Germany’s deliberate distortion of its topographical maps. From the publisher’s catalogue page: “Maps used by anyone else [other than the defence,…   Read more →
Posted on Thursday, September 7, 2006 at 11:07 AM
Categories: Books, Censorship & Security
China Cracks Down on Mapmaking
The Chinese government is going after foreign mapmakers who “illegally survey, gather and publish geographical information on China,” the Xinhua News Agency is reporting (AOL News; Irish Examiner; Shanghai Daily; People’s Daily). It’s not clear to me whether this is solely directed at surveyers gathering information without permission, or at…   Read more →
2
Posted on Wednesday, August 30, 2006 at 9:12 AM
Categories: Censorship & Security
UK Stops Hiding Sensitive Sites
The British government has decided to scrap the “sensitive sites register,” meaning that about 50 high-security installations will now be able to be mapped on Ordnance Survey maps, The Independent reports; the register was defeated by publicly available information from Internet-based sources. Via Map GIS News Blog Etc. Etc. Update,…   Read more →
Posted on Sunday, August 6, 2006 at 4:50 PM
Categories: Censorship & Security
Link Roundup for January 17
I’ve got to hunker down and produce a big post about the controversial Chinese map that purportedly proves that the Chinese discovered the Americas, but in the meantime, here are a few links about satellite images, online maps and advertising. This AP wire story about satellite images and privacy raises…   Read more →
1
Posted on Tuesday, January 17, 2006 at 9:44 AM
Categories: Censorship & Security, Online Maps, Satellite & Aerial
Russian Maps Mislead Foreign Businesses
The International Herald Tribune looks at the disconnect between the official maps handed out by the Russian authorities to foreign businesses, with gridlines diverging from true north and the latitudes and longitudes blotted out, with the relative ease that the same obfuscated sites can be viewed with Google Earth. A…   Read more →
Posted on Friday, December 2, 2005 at 8:53 AM
Categories: Censorship & Security, Mapping Errors
Google Earth, India and Security — Again
India doesn’t seem to want to leave Google alone: after complaining about the satellite data in Google Earth, the Indian government is back to complaining about the labelling of Kashmir (via GeoCarta). See previous entries: Google Earth: Indian Reactions, Google Earth and Disputed Borders and Names. Meanwhile, the Christian Science…   Read more →
6
Posted on Thursday, December 1, 2005 at 3:27 PM
Categories: Censorship & Security, Satellite & Aerial
BP, Russian Security and Large-Scale Maps
More trouble in Russia over the possession of large-scale (i.e., 1:25,000) maps, this time involving oil company BP. Apparently foreigners — including foreign corporations doing business in Russia — aren’t allowed to have them. Via Cartography. See previous entry: Maps as State Secrets….   Read more →
Posted on Monday, October 24, 2005 at 6:53 PM
Categories: Censorship & Security, Topo Maps & Trails
Google Earth: Indian Reactions
Once more into the breach. India is the latest country where concerns are being expressed about the high-resolution imagery in Google Earth, now that several Indian cities have had their photos updated. As usual, the concern is about sensitive installations — this time military. (Apparently, the Pakistanis might see something….   Read more →
Posted on Wednesday, September 28, 2005 at 8:54 PM
Categories: Censorship & Security, Google Earth, Satellite & Aerial
State Comptroller Threatens Google
Ogle Earth reports that New York state comptroller Alan Hevesi is the latest politician to freak out about Google Earth as a potential tool for terrorists. But Hevesi does it in a particularly odious manner, invoking his status as trustee of the New York state pension fund, which owns Google…   Read more →
Posted on Sunday, September 25, 2005 at 8:28 AM
Categories: Censorship & Security, Google Earth, Satellite & Aerial
Google Earth Privacy and Security Roundup
When the satellite-photo version of Google Maps came out earlier this year, there was some apprehension about the impact of these high-resolution photos on individual privacy. For example, some nervousness about being able to see the car in your driveway. I’m sensitive to privacy concerns, but for the most part…   Read more →
1
Posted on Monday, September 12, 2005 at 10:34 AM
Categories: Censorship & Security, Satellite & Aerial, Software
Maps as State Secrets
If you’re bemoaning the lack of open geographical data in your country, the following should give you pause. In Russia, public maps are limited to a scale of 1:100,000, with secret installations “cleansed”; higher-resolution maps are considered state secrets, their possession punishable by law. There is a move afoot to…   Read more →
Posted on Wednesday, June 29, 2005 at 9:48 PM
Categories: Censorship & Security, Topo Maps & Trails

Note: Entries from 2003 were not categorized and will not appear in the category archives. Please consult the monthly archives.