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You are hereGuardian reports: "Google Earth used to target Israel" with attacks -- Google's increasing liability...
Submitted by Scott Cleland on Mon, 2007-10-29 18:20
The British paper, The Guardian, reported recently that: "Google Earth used to target Israel."
What is really scary about this coverage is the chillingly "open" video by the Guardian next to the written story that shows (about two-thirds of the way through the 4 minute video) how the "Palestinian militant" actually targets rocket attacks on Israel using Google Earth -- ostensibly to try and terrorize, kill and maim Israelis within Israel. In another similar high profile problem, Google Earth was also careless in releasing restricted photos of the White House roof on Google Earth.
The New York Times also reported that: "Government's tremble at Google's Bird's-eye view" which highlights how other government's were outraged that photos of sensitive security locations were made public and easily accessible by Google Earth. The New York Times did yet another interesting article about Google's new "Street View" application where: "Google zooms in too close for some." The very troublesome pattern here is Google's invasive "innovation without permission" culture, which rushes to get new applications out as quickly as possible, and then doesn't worry about, or take responsibility for, the problems or ramifications of an incomplete or an un-reviewed application. They don't worry because they believe any problems will work themselves out through the iterative "open" feedback process that relies on delegating review of their "work" to the Internet public and the "wisdom of crowds".
My oft-blogged concern is that Google's business approach has no internal controls, management oversight, or adult supervision to speak of.
I wonder how far Google would get in court arguing that noone could have foreseen that there might be a security problem with disemminating to anyone with an Internet connection an application that would show the security measures on the White House roof, security and civilian sites in Israel, or a host of other problematic locations in a post 9-11 world.
At its core, Google's is basically delegating its own corporate responsibility to others through the iterative "open" public beta review processes.
Google appears to be telling the world that they have a "get out of jail free card" because:
Google also apparently believes they are somehow absolved from any responsibility or liability that their un-reviewed innovations may cause to the public.
Unfortunately for Google, pleading ignorance of the law or ignoring the obvious safety/security concerns of others that are obvious and foreseeable -- will not shield Google from liability -- indefinitely.
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