Why pre-Katrina Google pix?
p2pnet.net news:- Google replaced Hurricane Katrina disaster pix on its satellite service with spiffy images. Did advertising have anything to do with it? Who knows. But whatever the reason, the US House Committee on Science and Technology’s subcommittee on investigations and oversight wants to know why. A letter went to Google chairman and ceo Eric Schmidt explain, says Associated Press.
“Swapping the post-Katrina images and the ruin they revealed for others showing an idyllic city dumbfounded many locals and even sparked suspicions that the company and civic leaders were conspiring to portray the area’s recovery progressing better than it is,” says AP.
“Andrew Kovacs, a Google spokesman, said the company had received the letter but Schmidt had no immediate response.”
To use older, pre-Katrina images, “when more recent images are available without some explanation as to why appears to be fundamentally dishonest,” the story has subcommittee chairman Brad Miller saying.
Google, “maintains that the First Amendment protects its right to display any results its algorithms deem appropriate,” says MediaPost, adding:
“If this reasoning is correct, the First Amendment also protects Google’s ability to display images of a pre-Katrina New Orleans. Whether the company will be able to maintain its credibility if it does so for long is another matter entirely.”
Also See:
Associated Press – Subcommittee criticizes Google maps, April 2, 2007
MediaPost – Google, Displaying Outdated Images, Has Some Explaining To Do, April 2, 2007
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