Interesting news for enemies of the USA – a maritime buff has just discovered a top secret new propeller on a submarine in dry dock at a US Navy base using Microsoft’s Virtual Earth software. The Navy Times explains how Dan Twohig’s sighting raises concerns over how matters of national security can be compromised by aerial imaging apps such as Virtual Earth and Google Earth.
While the Navy Times article contains comments from naval experts warning of the dangers of taking aerial photographs of government bases, Microsoft issued a statement countering that the company is willing to blur such imagery if asked. One of the naval experts said that this is not good enough and that pictures of this nature should never be in the public for security purposes.
I would argue that the likes of Microsoft and Google have it spot on in their policy. Surely the navy would’ve noticed the presence of a great big plane taking shots of its sub and take measures to ask what it was doing there. Besides, if the Navy didn’t want anyone to see this innovative new war technology they should’ve covered it up. Like it or not, we’re living in a time when cameras are often fixed on you. If you don’t want people to find out what you’re up to then don’t make things so public.
