India: Petition to block Google Earth

According to reports published in The Register and The Times of London, an Indian court has been called to ban Google Earth in response to intelligence indicating that the satellite imaging was used in planning November’s terrorist attack’s in Mumbai.

Legal advocate Amit Karkhanis alleges that the free service “aids terrorists in plotting attacks,” asking in the interim that Google blur images of sensitive areas while the case proceeds in court.

Is there a precedent? Earlier this year, the US Department of Defense banned Google from capturing Streetview images of military bases in Texas. The British military followed suit, forcing Google to remove imagery of bases in Basra, Iraq.

Unlike the American or British cases, the India case calls for an outright ban on Google Earth itself, rather than blurring or restrictions.