For those not familiar with the term “NIMBY” look here
Link – EarthHack.net via Ogle Earth
Who gave Google the right to web publish photographs of my backyard so detailed that you can see the details of my landscaping? Or which side of the driveway I park my car on?
Yes, I know these photos have been available for a long time from Keyhole, and Yes, I know that they currently don’t need my permission to publish these images. But at what point should we collectively be able to assert control over these images? In the past the idea of spying on individuals from space has not been a credible threat, but if the resolution of the available images improves at even a linear rate then within a few years you’ll progress from being able to find my backyard, to being able to find the grill in my backyard, to being able to see what’s on the grill in my backyard. And that cannot be permitted.
If this lack of control goes unchallenged then the inevitable result of improving camera resolution, increasing frequency of satellite passes and improving data compression and transmission rates will be effective quasi-real-time space surveillance on an individual basis.
How can that possibly be left unchallenged?
So I am proposing a two pronged approach to defeating this hijacking of our collective privacy; first, establish that Google/Keyhole has the capability to modify individual images on request; secondly, create a legal requirement for them to do so. These are concurrent activities, and the first one begins today.
Sigh, I’m almost willing to chip in some money to buy this guy some tin foil. How long will it take for people to actually realize that Google isn’t taking these pictures?