Google accused of aiding Mumbai attack

An Indian lawyer has filed a lawsuit in the Mumbai High Court against Google, alleging its mapping service was used by terrorists to plan last month's attacks.

The public interest case brought by Amit Karkhani demands that Google blocks sensitive images of places in the country.

The gunmen who lay siege to Mumbai, killing 171 people, were using Google Earth to plan the attacks, as well as internet telephony technology to maintain contact, it has been claimed.

Attacks were carried out by a group of 10 heavily armed gunmen on the Indian coastal city in November - chronicled minute-by-minute by bloggers on websites such as Flickr and Twitter.

Google Earth provides detailed satellite images to a 50cm resolution of many locations worldwide on its website and is free to use.

A spokesperson for Google said the company condemned the attacks, adding that they "stand by the citizens of India and the city of Mumbai as they recover from the attacks".

"Tools such as Google Earth are built from information that is already available from both commercial and public sources, and it is important to remember that the same information is available to anyone who purchases imagery from those public sources."

Google Earth has been used to coordinate humanitarian relief in southern India following the natural disasters in India.

"We believe that the benefits of access to tools such as Google Earth for such valuable purposes far outweigh any negatives from potential misuse," the spokesperson added.

Google is expected to launch Street View in the UK in 2009, although no exact date has been released. The service, already available in the US, New Zealand and in Spain and Italy, provides street-level views of cities. It has courted privacy concerns; Privacy International says it breaks data protection laws.

Check out Web User'sGoogle Earth and Google Maps extras.

Save up to £16 a year this Christmas when you subscribe to Web User!