Top US Senator to Apple, Google: 'Curb your spy planes' One week after Apple announced it was booting Google Maps from iOS and photographing the world with its own aerial fleet, a top US Senator has written to both companies expressing concern over their "military-grade spy planes." "Barbequing or sunbathing in your backyard shouldn't be a public event," said Senator Charles …
Given how much he blathers on aviation issues he doesn't understand, I think he heard "plane" and thought he needed to say something.
Digital Orthophoto Quarter Quads (DOQQs) have been available from the US Geologic Survey (USGS) for years. Some states/counties allow you to download them for free. Otherwise they can be readily purchased on DVD. They have more than enough resolution for a slightly trained imagery analyst to pick out and target critical infrastructure.
My county, like Anonymous Bosch's (above), also does full aerial photogrammetry sweeps every five years. This is quite common though the frequency varies by state/county/city. Such sweeps are already used to locate structures built without permits. My county is going through the process now and sending out inspectors.
I find it much more likely that Google, Apple, and other would simply license the existing photogrammetry datasets rather than refly everywhere. In certain targeted areas not already covered by LIDAR or other 3D aerial mapping, they might do selective area coverage.
If they existed on the scale that the governments would like us to believe, then why are we not under constant daily attack??
They dont need accurate map data to disrupt our infrastructure, they just need to toss a scaffold pole into an electricity substation, or chuck a shopping trolly on a train line, or even simpler, park a truck in the middle of a motorway.. all of these things would cause serious disruption and be deemed terrorist attacks, but they are just not happening!!
Therefore i conclude that terrorists do not exist.
All very amusing - but I would rather they were not allowed to just go ahead and take these kind of images without prior legal authorisation at all. If there was some process they had to go through to apply for this access, they would likely be refused most of the time and the process would be long and drawn out even in cases where they did gain access. Instead this "act first and ask later" routine is absolutely incredible and has led us into the realm of a sci-fi style surveillance society without any choice or process on our part, virtually overnight - especially since at this rate it is surely not long before the satellite views become live or you can order your own drone flyby online!
If I take my ladder (first order of business would technically be to buy a ladder, but well) and start going around in my city, climbing above hedges and photographing gardens and houses in a systematic fashion, and then go home and upload it to "www.gardensnhomes.com" for all to see, then I am fairly certain that I've broken the law at some point.
Is this not similar - in relevant ways - to what Google/Apple is doing? If not, why not?
on aerial devices that fly around talking pictures, videos, whatever of people ; note this recent Wired article : http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2012/06/64-drone-bases-on-us-soil/. Alas, against these machine, Rik's advice «to close your drapes» is unlikely to prove effective....
Henri
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