Google Earth and Private Island Privacy

By Islomaniac | July 1, 2007

As many of you know Google Earth is a website that allows users to view satellite images of the world in varying degrees of detail. Google Earth is an islomaniacs dream, allowing us to explore private islands, atolls and micro nations with remarkable detail. Just today I was looking at pictures of the Maldives and I got thinking, what happens when the precision gets sharper and we get even closer images of these locations? Naturally, this made me think about privacy on my island.

male google earth

Google Earth Image

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I am not sure how I feel about a satellite peering down on my while I am in my garden. After all, can a private island still be called “private” if you never know if you are being watched from miles above. This is not the first time this issue has been brought up. Recently the ruling family of Bahrain blocked the Google Earth website over its intrusion into their private islands. This has created an uneasy tension between the ruling class, and lower class individuals who were getting a first hand look at the economic disparity between the two. It will be interesting to see what happens over the next few years. I was born before sputnik and I am growing old in a world where the term privacy is an ever changing concept. It truly is a Brave New World and soon it will be coming to you live via Google Earth.

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