My friend Josh just sent me a link to this shot of Google Earth capturing what looks like a hand-to-hand in Chicago. We debated a little about whether something like this would be admissible in court, and in this case it would probably be considered circumstantial, but still, the writing is on the wall. The technology can only improve from here, so say goodbye to ‘public space’. And here I thought Google Earth was just an innocent tool for finding your old house, viewing crop circles, and ogling low res sun bathers. What a time to be alive.
UPDATE: They’ve removed the picture it seems. So much for the ‘total transparency’ silver lining. Anyway, all this Orwellian satellite stuff reminds me that this week is the 25th anniversary of the Strategic Defensive Initiative AKA Star Wars, Ronald Reagan’s trillion dollar 12-year-old boy fantasy. The project has been pared down considerably since the Halcyon days of the Cold War, but elements are still very much in effect.
One more thing - I just watched this documentary about how geopolitical conflicts have influenced the evolution of video games. Star Wars (mission shield not movie) was a major influence, of course. It’s a bit repetitive and heavy handed at times, but if you’re like me and don’t know much about video games, it’s interesting… Anyway, something to take our minds off the unblinking eye at least.
PS - CIA enlists Google’s help for spy work
Google has been recruited by US intelligence agencies to help them better process and share information they gather about suspects.
Agencies such as the National Security Agency have bought servers on which Google-supplied search technology is used to process information gathered by networks of spies around the world.
Google is also providing the search features for a Wikipedia-style site, called Intellipedia, on which agents post information about their targets that can be accessed and appended by colleagues, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
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The Dolph said on Mar 25 08 at 23:55Not that a satellite couldn’t have taken a picture of the same transaction, but that photo was from someone on the ground, no? A photo from a satellite would’ve been from the top down. Not that that changes the scariness of someone taking a picture of you and posting it on Google Earth at the exact spot where it took place, like for instance, me walking around naked, doing weird shit in my apartment. Which no one can know about, ever…, too late.
Brendan said on Mar 27 08 at 09:48Man you’re right. I actually didn’t even think of that. Because it’s true that using google earth or looking at sites like googlesightseeing, you more or less always see a top down and the resolution is worse. But that’s even weirder.
And put some clothes on.
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