Lawyer Seeks Total Ban Of Google Earth In India

December 11, 2008 5:39 a.m. EST

Mumbai, India (AHN) - An Indian lawyer has asked the Mumbai High Court to totally ban Google Earth claiming that terrorists who attacked the financial center last month used maps freely available from the satellite imaging website.

In his petition filed on Monday, Amit Karkhanis also sought a complete ban on similar sites, including the online map website Wikimapia, in the interest of national security.

The lawyer said in the petition that paying subscribers have access to real-time and updated maps on Google Earth and they can see the ongoing construction of the Worli-Bandra Sealink, a bridge in Mumbai, as well as the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) in northeast Mumbai, Naval dockyards, nuclear and oil establishments and Rashtrapati Bhavan, the presidential palace in the capital New Delhi.

The petition further stressed that ministry of science and technology and Survey of India are authorized to map the country.

Pending a decision on his petition, Karkhanis asked the court to compel Google Earth to blur the images of sensitive sites in India.