The "threat" by Google Earth has just vanished in the air

Or has it actually? In one of my previous posts "Security quotes : a FSB (successor to the KGB) analyst on Google Earth" I mentioned the usefulness of Google Earth by the general public, and the possibility to assist terrorists. The most popular argument on how useless the publicly available satellite imagery is that it doesn't provide a high-resolution images, and recent data as well -- that's of course unless you don't request one, but isn't it bothering you that here we have a street-side drive-by POC?



The recently introduced Windows Live Local Street-Side Drive-by (A9's maps have been around for quite a while), is setting a new benchmark for interactive OSINT -- if any as this is also a privacy violation that can be compared with efforts like these if it was in real-time. Having had several conversations with a friend that's way too much into satellite imagery than me, I've realized that starting from the basic fact of targeting a well known or a movie-plot location doesn't really requires satellite imagery. I find that today's sources basically provoke the imagination and the self-confidence -- and hopefully nothing more!


There have been numerous articles on the threat posed by Google Earth, and India seems to be the most concerned country about this for the time being :



"Chief of the Indian Army General J.J. Singh warns that Google Earth could endanger national security by providing high resolution photographs of strategic defense facilities. The software could prove especially useful to countries that do not have their own satellite capabilities. Singh called Google Earth a shared concern for all countries, requiring all countries to cooperate to address the issue. Indian President APJ Abdul Kalam has also expressed concerns over Google Earth and national security."



You can spend hours counting the cars in front of NSA's parking lot through public satellite imagery resources, still you would never get to see what's going on in there, I guess things have greatly changed since the days when tourists sent over the USSR, or exactly the opposite, to the U.S, would try to get hold of as many maps as possible finish the puzzle.



In some of my previous posts on Cyberterrorism, I said that terrorists are not rocket scientists until we make them feel so, and I'm still sticking to this statement, what about you? As a matter of fact, Schneier is inviting everyone to participate in the Movie-Plot Threat contest -- stuff like terrorist EMP warfare, Nuclear truck bombs (the same story from 3 years ago), and other science fiction scenarios worth keeping an eye on.



Terrorism is a profitable paranoia these days, that's constantly fuelling further growth in defense and intelligence spending, as satellite imagery is promoted for the bust of Bin Laden, whereas their infrastructure seems to pretty safe, isn't it? (More photos, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6) I'd rather we have known parties as an adversary, the way it used to be during the Cold War, whose competition sent us in Space, and landed us on the Moon , instead of seeing terrorists everywhere and missing the big opportunity.



Technorati tags:
Security, Terrorism, Cyberterrorism, Privacy, Google Earth, Google Maps, Space, Microsoft Live, New Media