After
registering a Preliminary Enquiry against Google for alleged mapping of
classified areas, CBI has sought help of Survey of India which has
alleged that the Internet giant continued to “pollute” the web with
classified material despite being warned against it.
As
the probe continues, Surveyor General of India Swarna Subba Rao alleged
that the Internet giant did not refrain from mentioning classified site
even after having been asked not to do so.
“During
their (Google’s) Mapathon 2013 exercise, they collected lot of
classified data and we had approached them to refrain from doing so when
we came to know about it,” Dr Rao told PTI from Dehradun.
He
said, instead of desisting, Google “polluted the Internet” with the
coordinates of classified locations on the map. “They (Google) have
expressed their desire to meet me at some hotel but I have been firm of a
meeting in office,” he said.
The
Survey of India (SoI), the official mapping agency of the country, is
the complainant in the case. After initial probe by Delhi Police, the
case was handed over to the CBI as the investigation involved a company
which is based in the US.
Google
had not taken permission from SoI before organising a mapping
competition in February-March 2013 in which they asked citizens to map
their neighbourhoods, especially details related to hospitals and
restaurants.
The
CBI registered the PE based on a complaint filed by the Surveyor
General of India’s office to the Union Home Ministry, in which it was
alleged that Google had been indulging in activities of mapping several
areas which were not included in the maps of the country.
Highlighting
the violations to the Home Ministry, the SoI said only it was mandated
to undertake ‘Restricted’ category surveying and mapping, and no other
government or private organisations or individual are authorised to do
so.
As
per the National Map Policy 2005, “the responsibility for producing,
maintaining and disseminating the topographic map database of the whole
country, which is the foundation of all spatial data, vests with the
Survey of India”.
It
was alleged that Google India had launched a nationwide contest and
people might have passed on maps and other key details of strategic
installations located in other cities and states to the US company, the
sources added.
For
SoI, it was clarified that the company never took any permission before
undertaking the mapping exercise, and from national security point of
view, civil and military Vital Areas, Vital Points (VPs) cannot be shown
in the map/data published in public domain.
Posted by : Gizmeon
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