PIL seeks ban on Google Earth

In the wake of recent terror attacks in the city, a PIL has been filed in the Bombay High Court seeking ban on Google Earth which gives access to ‘sensitive’ defence and civilian establishments in the country.

Demands removal of the images of vital installations from the website

In the wake of recent terror attacks in the city, a PIL has been filed in the Bombay High Court seeking ban on Google Earth which gives access to ‘sensitive’ defence and civilian establishments in the country. The petition filed by Mumbai-based lawyer Amit Karkhanis has taken exception to easy access to satellite images of the vital installations in the country and demanded removal of images of the country from Google Earth.

“In the alternative, I have demanded that at least the images of vital installations in the country be blocked,” said Karkhanis.

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According to Karkhanis, ‘sensitive’ areas like naval dockyards and air force bases can be seen through Google Earth. This invites the terrorists to strike these establishments. “The petition is filed against the backdrop of terror attacks in Mumbai,” he said. “Even images of nuclear plants and defence establishments are available on this site. It is a security hazard,” he added.

The petition is seeking a ban on Google Earth to protect information regarding the defence and civilian establishments. According to the petitioner, mapping and imaging are the sovereign functions of the state and no private party should be allowed to host such sensitive data.

The petitioner pointed out that the National Mapping Policy of 2005 which is issued by the Ministry of Science and Technology can be implemented only by the Survey of India(SoI). As per the policy, mapping and selling has to be done only by the SoI. Even the defence establishments have to purchase data from SoI, petition stated.

Petitioner is now seeking the exact details on government talks with the Google regarding sensitive data and also a complete ban on such data.

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“Eventhough it is not a detailed mapping, it gives a fair idea to terrorists,” Karkhanis said. The petition is likely to come up for hearing on December 18.

Google Earth, a subsidiary of popular search website Google, is a US-based company. It has been made a party along with the Ministries of Defence, Science and Technology and Information Technology. The Google Earth provides satellite images of any location on the globe through its website.