Google may block access to sensitive images

Chief Net Evangelist for Google Inc, Vinton G Cerf on Tuesday said technology protocols for inter-planetary Internet linking (IPN) are being put in place under a NASA-funded project. The InterPlaNet would allow spacecrafts on a planet like Mars to maintain links with Earth and other spacecraft, the Google vice-president said.

Addressing the mediapersons, Google India Research and Development Centre head Prasad Ram said Google Inc is talking to the Indian government to block access to sensitive maps and images, following objections from the latter. “Our legal teams and the Indian government are talking to identify the maps and images containing geographic information on sensitive locations and vital installations in the country that can be taken off from Google Earth,” he said.

“We cannot say when the discussions will conclude. This is an ongoing exercise we have with governments worldwide,” the Google official here. Cerf said the company has addressed such issues in other countries as well. “In the US, we have removed information on some installations with less resolution and in some cases blanked out the top of White House,” Cerf said.

Talking about the IPN, Cerf said, “We are working on standardising the protocols so that spacecrafts can communicate and share information across the solar system. The Internet has grown from 22.5 million servers in 1997 to 395 million servers now. In the same time frame, the user base grew from 50 million to over a billion,” Cerf added.