President Kalam warns against Google Earth

Google Earth puts a planet's worth of imagery and other geographic information right on your desktop and ever since its launch, has become one of the most popular services on the internet.

But many top government officials are wary of this service. Recently, Indian President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam has joined the list of government officials charging that the geographic details provided by Google Earth's satellite imaging program pose a security risk. "Developing countries, which are already in danger of terrorist attacks, have been singularly chosen." Kalam said.

While addressing the nation's top police officers at the Vallabhabhai Patel National Police Academy at Hyderabad, he cautioned them to be aware of emerging "open-source intelligence." He also showed the audience aerial pictures of some of the sensitive locations in India.

"When you look deeper into it, you would realize that the specific laws in some countries, regarding spatial observations over their territory and UN recommendations about the display of spatial observations, are inadequate" he noted.

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