Danger on the Internet

Internet is fast becoming the dangers of unrestricted flow of traffic on the information superhighway. This has come into light by the popular e-service provider Google which, after its hugely successful e-mail service, has recently launched Google Earth - Explore, Search and Discover - that has sent shivers down the collective spine of security establishments across the world. The new service enables anyone with access to the Net to zoom in on top security - and till now strictly secret - military and other strategic installations of a large number of countries, including India.

The virtual visit to these sites is facilitated with the help of satellite images that are sharp, precise and amazingly detailed; Governments concerned would categorize the bulk of the images as "classified information". For instance, in case of India, apart from close-up and graphic shots of the President Office, Parliament House and the Prime Minister's residence, Google Earth offers more than a bird's eye view of military aircraft parked at Palam Air Force base, physical details of INS Viraat and other Navy vessels, including one under construction, and Yellahanka Air Force base.

Also available are satellite images of military installations in Pakistan - for instance, shots of P3C Orion at Faisal Air Force base in Karachi - as well as high-risk targets in the US, Australia, South Korea and Thailand. While the basic service of Google Earth is free, the advanced version comes with a price tag. In effect, this is a business enterprise that involves Google buying spy satellite imagery and selling them to subscribers - the profits, needless to add, will be in millions of dollars, if not more. Champions of free market economics and freedom of information will no doubt claim that there is nothing intrinsically wrong with Google Earth; after all, the Net is meant for the free flow of knowledge and to make information accessible to all in a seamless, digitized world; if in the process Google earns some money, there is no cause to cavil.

While there can be no dispute over allowing free flow of knowledge and breaking down barriers that made access to information virtually impossible till the Internet changed our lives inexorably, it would be in order to underscore the inherent dangers of unrestricted services like that which is now being offered by Google. For instance, terrorists will no longer have to spend human and monetary resources to gather information about high security installations that they wish to target. They can now access it by logging on to http://earth.google.com from anywhere in the world.

And so precise are the details of these potential targets, that they can better plan their strikes and minimize the chances of failure; indeed, in most cases they can work out ways and means to circumvent security arrangements. This is alarming and as frightening as the possibility of terrorists putting together a dirty bomb with the help of an e-manual posted on the Net by a scientist who believes that such information should not remain restricted to military labs. Google is not an underground operation, nor is it an untraceable, faceless entity. It is an American business whose shares are traded. That an American entity should seek to titillate the sick fancies and the perverted minds of terrorists is ironical, not least because Google has also apparently compromised the security of the US. Google should reconsider going ahead with the new service; if it fails to do so, Google Earth should be blocked through official decree.