Battleangel

Not the first nation to demand censorship of the Google Earth service. The US already did it. But it’s no surprise perhaps that Israel manages to strong-arm Google.

Arutz Sheva - Google Agrees to Limit Resolution of Israel Satellite - Google, which offers satellite photos of locations across the globe, has agreed to limit the resolution of footage of sensitive military installations and vulnerable sites in Israel.

Google currently offers satellite photos of eight locations in Israel: Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, the Dead Sea, Masada, the Dimona Nuclear Research Center (DNRC), Sdot Micha (listed as a nuclear weapons base), the Kinneret, and the Mizpe Ramon crater.

Photos of Israel will only be available up to a two meter resolution.

How many other countries have managed this? How did India fare on this matter? At any rate, the information on Google Earth is still easily, if perhaps not freely, available elsewhere so this is again a tilting at windmills from those that for various reasons abhor an open society and want to make an example out of this visionary project.