Clear Public Satellite Imagery Tantamount to Yelling Fire

TechDirt pointed out a recent bit of foolishness as a followup to California Assemblyman Joel Anderson's push to force Google and other online mapping/satellite companies to blur out schools, churches, and government buildings. When pushed, apparently his justification was that leaving these buildings un-obscured is the same as shouting fire. "News.com ran an interview with Anderson, where he attempts to defend his proposed legislation as a matter of public safety. He claims that there is no good reason why anyone would need to clearly see these buildings online, and that it can only be used for bad purposes. [...] Apparently, Anderson is the final determiner of what good people do and what bad people do with online maps."

I suppose he would have a point

[Gat0r30y]

If people went around geo-tagging all of these locations as "On Fire!", and fire departments regularly looked at the meta information on all of the buildings around them in order to determine whether or not they are on fire.
Or maybe he's just a tremendous ass.

FIRE!!!

[basementman]

FIRE!!!

Ya, I learned the hard way...

[tobiah]

there are consequences for yelling "Church!" in a crowded theatre.

Shoot him.

[commodore64_love]

Doing so will increase the overall IQ of the California Legislature. Whichever person is elected to replace him is bound to be more intelligent.

What?!

[BancBoy]

Sorry, I thought you were trying to show clear public satellite imagery.

Wow, I guess Assemblyman Anderson is right, I can't tell the difference...

Re:Shoot him.

[taustin]

You clearly don't know much about the California Monkey Sanctuary. This guy's not even unusual.

Re:Big arrows

[noidentity]

No, but you see the point is to trick the terrorists by making them think they ALREDY blew it up. "No, ze building zis is already in a blurry pile of ruins. Ve must move on."

targeting database made easy

[hAckz0r]

In other news, kim jong il orders the immediate start of a brand new National North Korean fire control system which applies state of the art AI image processing to the Google Maps/Earth databases in order to identify all blurred image regions. He was overheard saying "No need to even aim the missiles any more, this completely automated approach can continue shooting even after the very last rice patty is scorched and vaporized.". When the rice patty farm workers themselves were asked about the new situation all they said was 'no comment'.

Re:Shhh

[rpresser]

Will it end with gouging out everyone's eyes? Or will it continue until spatial relationships themselves have been outlawed?

Re:the real WTF?

[Low Ranked Craig]

Don't let Joel Anderson find out about street view, he'll want that blurred out as well.

The 7-11 on the corner by my house was routinely robbed. I'm sure if the image of the store in Street View was blurred out, some of these robberies would not have taken place, because I'm certain that the type of folks that hold up a convenience store plan this stuff in advance with high technology.

Re:the real WTF?

[Cristofori42]

I think he meant 'Fire' as in the kind that's preceeded by the words 'Ready' and 'Aim'. I think.

The Internet was safer 20 years ago.

[ACMENEWSLLC]

Perhaps we just need to turn this Internet thingy off? Things would be safer without it. Damned progress.

Re:Shhh

[Random BedHead Ed]

If it takes gouging out everyone's eyes to stop the terrists, then that's what we'll have to do.

How about

[Shivetya]

I paid for them I want to see my investments.

Whats next, hiding their grades too? Oh, wait some schools essentially do that.

I know his reason, but just because we are embarrassed by the state of our public education doesn't mean we need to hide the buildings too :)

He's absolutely right

[nsayer]

If I take off my glasses, all the bugs in my code go away.

Re:the real WTF?

[digitig]

Not to mention that I regularly use satellite imagery to augment maps when I am going somewhere unfamiliar and want to get a better idea of what it will look like when I get there.

Why are you going to an unfamiliar area? Sounds like terrorism to me!

Re:Think about it like this...

[stephanruby]

Well technically, the terrorists that have been targeting schools in the US are usually the students themselves. So it's really the students you have to watch out for, don't let them memorize the layout of their schools. Blindfold them and hood them between classes. Chain them up together, so that you don't let one be able to go on a reconnaissance mission. Let the security guards lead them in and out of the school. Move furniture around and walls to keep them guessing. Remove all campus maps from the premises, especially those "Fire Exit" maps on all the doors, I don't have to tell you, those are the worse.

Re:the real WTF?

[dotgain]

You're not going to be looking at where you're going from 200 miles up when you get there, so why do you need to see it from that angle if the purpose is to get an idea of what it will look like from the ground?

I'm trying to land the space shuttle you insensitive clod!

Re:the real WTF?

[interkin3tic]

2. To scare people into a panic by pretending there is a real danger when there is not. (for lulz).

I'm having a hard time bending my brain to somehow apply this logic to leaving buildings unblurred.

Maybe he is worried that google will snap a picture at a time when a small cloud is over a building, and someone in said building will think "Hey, I wonder what my building looks like on google earth!" and will see the cloud and think "Ohmigod! The building is on fire!" and, I don't know, jump out a window.

While that makes no type of sense, it's important to keep in mind we're talking about a california state politician, so it doesn't have to.

Re:Here's his contact info

[Anonymous Coward]

Explain to him the error of his ways:

DISTRICT OFFICE
500 Fesler Street, Suite 201
El Cajon, CA 92020

...oh, and in case you're interested, here's what the top of his building [google.com] looks like.

Re:Think about it like this...

[Anonymous Coward]

Right on brother! Every single teachers meeting I bring these ideas up with the rest of staff. Yet they constantly get voted down. "blindfolding and hooding the students is cruel" they say, Pfff! The world is going soft, being chained to the wall between classes never hurt us as children.

I just don't know why I'm meeting such resistance in introducing such obviously necessary changes. Every parent I've talked to loves the ideas, good for discipline they think.

Re:the real WTF?

[mpe]

Other way around. The Gov has to justify hiding information from people. The excuses he gives are moot since someone can just get the address and drive there anyways.

Maybe instead he should wear glasses which blur his vision. This would be far cheaper for one thing.