US spook calls for web map censorship

Dangerous things, Google maps
By Nick Farrell
The Inquirer
May. 10, 2007

A DIRECTOR OF a US spy agency says that ignorance is bliss and has called for censorship of commercial satellite photos on the Interweb.

Robert Murrett, the new director of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency thinks that if there was a situation where any imagery products were being used by adversaries to kill Americans, his department should act.

Murrett's job is to study geospatial intelligence and provides information on insurgencies, nuclear sites, terror camps or troop movements.

He said he could see situations in which the US would not want imagery to be openly disseminated of a sensitive site of any type, whether it is here or overseas.

During the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan, it was his agency that ordered a blackout of private groups seeing images of the region. This actually hampered relief work and public understanding of the fight.

While the agency said it did not want to do that again, that was before Murrett took over the job. He seems to be taking a harder line on the matter saying that he sees moments where such information may have to be restricted, especially to protect US forces.

He told komotv.com that he wanted control over things that were disseminated. This might mean that his department buys up all the images. It could mean that your GPS receiver switches off when ever you drive close to a US base. Still, if Galileo ever gets off the ground, the EU is bound to let web users see what the US does not want us to and the Russians will almost certainly flog you the data.