U.S. military imposes ban on Google ‘Street View’

The U.S. Department of Defense banned Google from capturing images of military bases for its entertaining Street View facility on Google Maps, citing security risks. The ban came shortly after the detailed images of Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, Texas appeared on Google Maps and posed a threat to national security.

Last week, DOD issued restrictions to Google, banning roving photographic vehicles that the internet giant uses to acquire Google Maps Street View images, from entering any U.S. military base.

Complimenting its popular mapping technology, Web search giant Google Inc. in May launched "Street View", a unique Google Map service that provides users a street-level picture of downtown areas of various U.S. cities.

The new "Street View" feature in Google Maps enables users to view and navigate with a 360-degree view of the selected cities, including San Francisco area, New York, Las Vegas, Denver and Miami.

Google claims that its street-level viewing feature places Google Map users at the road level, offering them a deeper and more detailed experience of the location than aerial images provide.

But, the "Street View" feature came into question after the shocking discovery of intimate images of Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, Texas.

However, Google said it has removed the images after receiving a request from the military that said Sam Houston was not open to the public. "It is against Google's policy for a driver to seek access to a military base. Our policy is to stay on public roads, but a driver broke that policy," said Larry Yu, Google spokesman said.

Meanwhile, a message has been sent to all Defense Department bases and installations around the country, asking officials not to allow the mapping Web site to take panoramic views inside the facilities.

"We don't have any issues regarding Google and their products, which are very useful tools," said Gary Ross, a public affairs officer for the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) and the U.S. Northern Command. "But the Street View provides clear imagery of control points, barriers, headquarters and security facilities that pose a risk to our force-protection efforts."

The restriction applies to all other companies that acquire images for similar purposes, Ross added.