No smile for Google's camera By Siddharth Srivastava
NEW DELHI - Millions have benefited due to the advent of new technologies in
the form of the Internet, cell phones or computers as communication tools or
for executing business.
Many around the world have been equally at loggerheads with the myriad
possibilities thrown up by the use or misuse of technology. In India, these
include issues related to security, pornography, hacking and terror circles
passing coded messages via the cyber world.
One widely reported ruse has been pictures of Bollywood actress Aishwaria Rai
that are supposed to convey secret meanings to militants across the world.
Internet access in Indian Kashmir is limited due to such communication scares.
The latest development to catch the attention of authorities is Google Earth,
the satellite imagery and geographic information
service from Google, which is much more than a search engine now.
There is no doubt that Google Earth applications in collaboration with National
Geographic are a technological marvel, but not so for authorities concerned
with national security. Fears have been expressed about the many pictures
complete with three-dimensional close-ups and precise location codes. The
apprehension is that these images, freely available to surfers, can be used by
terrorists to plot their moves.
An international brouhaha has been happening for the past few weeks. Among
countries to express reservations about the pictures are South Korea, Sri
Lanka, Australia and Thailand. South Korea has been particularly upset.
"The service could pose a great security threat to the country, which is still
technically at war with North Korea," a Foreign Ministry official has been
quoted. Seoul was in talks with Washington concerning sensitive satellite
imagery, he said. "If the resolution of the picture is greater than six meters
[20 feet], security could be an issue," the official said. "The pictures are
quite accurate and clear." Australia does not consider the images to be precise
enough to be a threat as of now, though it is closely watching developments.
Google, in its defense, has said that the pictures are already in the public or
commercial domain and can easily be procured by anybody, if interested. It is
just that the process has become a lot easier. To prove that the existing
precision levels can be clicked by anybody, an enterprising individual in the
US powered by a high-resolution camera claims to have flown his plane over
important structures including the White House above the permissible height and
has uploaded pictures that approximate the satellite imagery.
Indian security agencies, however, have been particularly alarmed by reports
that the US has prevailed upon Google to blur out locations that it considers
vulnerable. These include the White House, Pentagon and President George W
Bush's ranch at Texas, though the pictures can still be accessed and have been
readily copied by surfers to other locations on the Internet.
Indian officials say that if a request has been made, then the same yardstick
should apply to India's parliament, the Rashtrapati Bhavan (president's house)
and Race Course Road where the prime minister resides. These locations are
under the purview of a strict no-fly zone and are equally at risk.
Earlier this month, Google released fresh satellite images of New Delhi, south
Mumbai, Bangalore and Hyderabad as part of its new initiative. These pictures
provide images that are at the very heart of India's security framework. They
include pictures of the Palam Airport where Indian Air Force planes are based,
Mumbai revealing INS Viraat - India's lone aircraft carrier- and jets and
helicopters at the air force base at Yelahanka. Important ordnance factories
are also mapped.
However, a news agency recently quoted an Indian official: "The issue of
satellite imagery has been discussed at the highest level but the government
has concluded that technology cannot be stopped. We are aware that there are
websites which give detailed pictures of buildings like the president's house,
including every tree in the compound. Our security agencies are aware of this
but how can we stop technology?"
Indeed, the feeling among security officials in India is that the precision
levels of the photographs available so far are not good enough to orchestrate
or plan an attack. The experience has been that the terrorist plans are
detailed to levels not available on the Internet as yet.
It may be recalled that investigating agencies found that terrorists made
several disguised forays into the Indian parliament noting deployment of
personnel, parking facilities, access documents, doors and alleys before the
bold attempt to storm the building in December 2001. Some pictures of the
building downloaded from the Internet were found on a seized laptop, but these
images were peripheral to the required material to orchestrate an attack.
More recently, it has been revealed that the bombers of the London blasts made
several trips to the underground tube before the July 7 D-day and so did the
terrorists who tried to unsuccessfully attack the Ayodhya temple in the state
of Uttar Pradesh earlier this year.
However, given the fear of the unknown dimensions of technology, there are
several misgivings still. Technology experts in India say that the pictures
available on Google earth are just the tip of the "`googleberg", more precision
replications are bound to follow. This will be the only way that the service
can be commercially viable.
A surfer, for example, could zoom onto the rooftop of a friend's house to watch
even as he/she speaks, and by extension the house of a prime minister, unless
measures are taken to block such locations. It could also make the task of
snipers much easier, such as those who recently killed the foreign minister of
Sri Lanka.
Indeed, the potential of technology can never be completely understood, just as
with the convoluted imagination of a terrorist. In an age when security is
constantly breached by terror attacks, concerns about technology being misused
will have to be heeded.
India's obsession with security is best amplified by the ban on carrying cell
phones in the vicinity of important people such as the prime minister or
president. Such an exercise is not implemented even by the US, UK or Israel,
whose leaders face the highest threats.
Post September 11, India has been particularly wary of attacks from air that
can cause severe damage. There have been innumerable warnings that the famed
Taj Mahal in Agra and Red Fort in Delhi could be subjected to aerial bombing.
Not that the US is not particular about such safety, most visible at the
airports and to anybody applying for a US visa. Since September 11, Indian
authorities have been dealing with several US requests pertaining to security,
most of which have been acceded. The air space above the US ambassador's
residence at Roosevelt House as well as the US Embassy have been blocked.
Former Indian defense minister George Fernandes has complained of being
partially disrobed by security personnel when he was on an official visit to
the US. Recently, the speaker of the lower house of the Indian parliament
refused to visit Australia, which turned down a request that he should not be
frisked at immigration.
Siddharth Srivastava is a New Delhi-based journalist.
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