In 2011, when it first tried to capture Street View images of the streets of Bangalore, it was stopped by the city’s police.
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“The primary concern was protection of sensitive defence installments”. Users can experience 360-degree panoramas of wonders such as the Taj Mahal, Humayun’s Tomb, the Red Fort and the Gateway of India, but coverage of regular streets – as you find in most western countries – remains unavailable. Anything that deters “security, sovereignty and integrity” of India will be eventually punished.
India has rejected Google’s plans to put Indian cities, tourists spots, hills and rivers in an application in which one can explore through 360-degree, panoramic and street-level imagery. The defense ministry said it was not possible to monitor the service once it was launched and it would be detrimental to national security.
The security establishment also had in mind that the planning for the 2008 terrorist attacks in Mumbai involved photographic reconnaissance of targets by American terrorist David Headley.
Street View photographs are captured by cameras mounted on vehicles that ply public roads to record their surroundings. Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju said once the proposed bill comes into force, issues related to Internet-based applications would be resolved. The bill’s draft states that it will be mandatory to get permission from a government authority before “acquisition, dissemination, publication and distribution” of geospatial information in India. The company usually collects images through its Street view cars, trucks, bikes fitted with cameras.
Top government sources said that after considering Google’s proposal at length for almost a year, both Union home ministry and defence ministry decided unequivocally that permission for the street view service cannot be granted, as it could have serious security implications.
Apart from India, Czech Republic Government also banned the Street view and around 250,000 German households solicited Google to blur their household pictures from its street view in 2010.
Google had applied for the service to map the streets of India past year. It was launched in 2007 in several U.S. cities, and has since expanded to include cities and rural areas worldwide.
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The Press Trust of India agency reported that India’s interior ministry had informed Google that its plans to cover India through the service had been rejected.
