Google’s wrist slapped for “airbrushing history”
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By Stevie Smith Apr 3, 2007, 10:47 GMT
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Please tell me this is an April Fools joke? Google has the right to put up any imagery they see fit.
I find it amazing that people would rather look at the destruction of a area, and not the life and beauty that it once was and will be again soon. I mean come on, would you like google to go back and post photos of L.A during the riots since it would have been historically correct, or how about the great dust bowl of the east 1900's....
Get a grip people, it is a service, and Google can do what they want. It is THIER product, on THEIR servers, with THEIR bandwidth costs. If they want to put the playboy bunny on every photo, then go ahead, THEIR choice.
Just remember the next time that you edit a word document that I can be offended that you did not leave it in the original form, and that I need to contact my congress person to get you to reverse the correction....
Plainly stupid!
I sometimes wonder why old people have their high school graduation picture in their obituary...
I live in New Orleans and misleading governmental imagery is our REALITY ! Who cares about google when hurricane season is upon us and the corpse (sic) of engineers knowingly installs defective pumps. Was New Orleans hurricane protection pathetic before the flood or just made apparent by the flood?
When is the Funeral???
I agree with all of you. Sounds like Rep. Brad Miller could do well to hear our thoughts, rather than just leaving them here for ourselves.
(triplew).house.gov/bradmiller/
I'm writing right now.
If Google was so inclined, had the bandwidth, and financial and personnel resources, Google could enhance our historical and educational experience of natural events by showing both before and after images of a disaster such as hurricane Katrina. Political and personal agendas benefit from factual physical comparisons, and the public would be better informed.
To all Americans out there reading this, I'm sorry you live a country with such an oppressive and overbearing government. A government that doesn't know its place, and has no concept of 'logic.'
It's absolutely insane that this should even be an issue. Perhaps if the software/website (Google Earth/Google Maps) was charging visitors a fee for extremely high resolution areal photographs of an area that claim to be accurate up to the minute, this would be an issue. Coincidentally, there is a portion of the documentation for Google Earth that boasts imagery is updated every 15 minutes. However, once you get to the fine print, it also specifically states that only certain (and also unnamed) sections of the map are updated on that time schedule.
Then again, it was a government decision to harp at Google about that... and from what I'm aware of, the government of the United States of America avoids logic and intelligent decision making at all costs. Unfortunately, they are also opening up the door for other government bodies - also people in general - to do the same thing. This isn't the first time that the American government has made rash and unfounded decisions like this, and it won't be the last. Perhaps it is time for America to stop being the world leader in idiotic governmental and legal decisions?
Calm down, Mighty Chip. It wasn't a 'government decision'. It was one letter from one Congressman.
Frankly, it's a measure of Google's geekiness that they traded accuracy for resolution. Me, I'd go for accuracy. People use Google imagery for more than just getting a juvenile 'Oh wow! Look what I can see!' thrill.
Scenerio - You own a car. You own the parts, the tires, the fuel, the key, the ignition switch.
Scenerio - you own a software company. You own the computer, the programming code, the algorithms.
Scenerio - you own a club/resturant/bar - You own the tables, chairs, glasses adn plates.
The Government can and does tell you where you can drive, where you can park, how to maintain the car.
The Governemtn tells you what you can and can't sell outside the US, what your software can and can not do.
The Government tells you if you can have alcohol in the building, if you can allow smoking, how clean to keep your establishment.
What's the difference? These are all freedoms that WE, collectively, have given to the Government. Eventually we will get to the point where we, collectively, say 'enough is enough.'
Then why not put the World Trade Centers back up? You have no clue how devastated New Orleans is. Google obviously had high resolution images of post-Katrina because they have now posted them and within 2 days. They do a big disservice to the rebuilding process by falsifying reality. Obviously someone did not want people to see how our federal government has totally let us down. Why don't you take a look at the catastrophe that is New Orleans instead of sitting in your smug little world?
First off, the US is a democratic republic. This means we are the government, and the government is us. We may delegate certain day-to-day chores to others, but at the end of the day, we're it.
That said, this is basically a truth-in-advertising issue. Google Maps purports to be an accurate representation of places. To a degree, those representations are advertisements for those places. If Google Maps is inaccurate, those are ads that -- lie.
It says something about the immorality of many of the above posters that they would rather condone lies that fit with their ideology than promote the truth.
There's also the business angle -- Google sells advertising. That means the interests of its shareholders is best served by the reputation of the company being squarely for the truth. If Google gets the reputation of being liars, that means advertisers will seeks other venues, as will viewers.
It says something about the ignorance the above posters have about the American free market system that they would rather promote business-damaging lies than promote the truth.
Don't be too hard on them Laz. They live in a land with Kings and Queens and princes and Dukes. In New Orleans, that only happens during Mardi Gras.
'It says something about the immorality of many of the above posters that they would rather condone lies that fit with their ideology than promote the truth.'
To me, condoning positional ideology instead of simply stating the truth is a clear example of a New World Order. Get ready because it's coming - nevermind, it's already here.
this is stupid.. they should beable to post whichever pictures they want and personally id rather see a nice New Orleans than a destroyed one.
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Wraith7nApr 3rd, 2007 - 11:54:35
This is ridiculous. There is no law stating that Google must have up to date sattilite maps of an area. If they want to have older higher res pictures of an area than that's not the goverments concern. I'm sure if the government wants high res pictures they can take their own. To accuse Google of rewriting history and ignore the blatent overlookings of todays history books is ridiculous. Google has every right to do what they want with their software. Heck they can delete Google maps off the face to the planet if they want. It's their software. If they take it down will they be accused of trying to erase a planet?
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