Google

The U.S. Department of Defense banned Google from capturing images of military bases for its entertaining Street View facility on Google Maps, citing security risks. The ban came shortly after the detailed images of Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, Texas appeared on Google Maps and posed a threat to national security.

Last week, DOD issued restrictions to Google, banning roving photographic vehicles that the internet giant uses to acquire Google Maps Street View images, from entering any U.S. military base. Complimenting its popular mapping technology, Web search giant Google Inc. in May launched "Street View", a unique Google Map service that provides users a street-level picture of downtown areas of various U.S. cities.

The new "Street View" feature in Google Maps enables users to view and navigate with a 360- degree view of the selected cities, including San Francisco area, New York, Las Vegas, Denver and Miami. Google claims that its street-level viewing feature places Google Map users at the road level, offering them a deeper and more detailed experience of the location than aerial images provide. But, the "Street View" feature came into question after the shocking discovery of intimate images of Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, Texas.

However, Google said it has removed the images after receiving a request from the military that said Sam Houston was not open to the public. "It is against Google's policy for a driver to seek access to a military base. Our policy is to stay on public roads, but a driver broke that policy," said Larry Yu, Google spokesman said. Meanwhile, a message has been sent to all Defense Department bases and installations around the country, asking officials not to allow the mapping Web site to take panoramic views inside the facilities.

"We don't have any issues regarding Google and their products, which are very useful tools," said Gary Ross, a public affairs officer for the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) and the U.S. Northern Command. "But the Street View provides clear imagery of control points, barriers, headquarters and security facilities that pose a risk to our force-protection efforts." The restriction applies to all other companies that acquire images for similar purposes, Ross added. Source 

Fort Sam Houston Google Images Seen By Al-Jazeera A national safety threat happened right here in the San Antonio area after detailed pictures were taken inside the gates of Fort Sam Houston and then put online.

A Google maps team went onto Fort Sam Houston and took pictures of buildings on the post without permission. The question now is could the Army post now be in danger after the pictures were put online for the world to see. Google maps "street view" provides a 360- degree view of the streets, as if you were standing on the street yourself. Officials at Fort Sam Houston told News 4 the Google team had permission to map the post, but not to take any photos. So, when Google's unauthorized pictures of the post ended up on their site, experts said they got into the wrong hands.

"Anyone in the world that has any interest in understanding what is going on," said terrorism prevention expert Dr. Saul Wilen. After making some calls, Dr. Wilen found out that within an hour, the N.S.A. knew. Within 2 hours, the F.B.I. was aware. Within 6 hours Israeli intelligence was looking at the layout of Fort Sam Houston. Dr. Wilen said Al-Jazeera and at least 4 other intelligence agencies overseas saw the unauthorized Google pictures. "And that's just preliminarily checking," Dr. Wilen said. Within 24 hours, the street view of Fort Sam Houston was taken down. But Dr. Wilen told News 4 this isn't the first time something like this has happened.

"Accidents of information happen," explained Dr. Wilen. Dr. Wilen said the next step for the post will be to keep security tight. "Because the information is out there, once it's out there it's out there, you either have to do something about it, or you have to then change direction," said Dr. Wilen. The Defense Department is now forbidding Google from coming onto any of its installments. Source

U.S. Military Imposes Ban on Google ‘Street View’ "It is against Google's policy for a driver to seek access to a military base. Our policy is to stay on public roads, but a driver broke that policy," “If you see something, say something.”