Aussie Nuke Tsar Goes Ballistic Over Google's Earth
Sorry, I couldn't help it, but some stories just demand the tabloid headline treatment.
More calmly now: Head of Australia's nuclear energy agency Dr. Smith would like Google to censor the imagery in Google Earth of that country's only nuclear reactor, a small research and medical reactor at Lucas Heights. Here is the full story.
What, this reactor here?
You see, according to Dr. Smith, "The question comes down to, if you put it on the internet, does it go to Pakistan or Afghanistan and make it easy for them?"
Ah, of course, them. How unfortunate, then, that the last person to try to blow up the reactor, in 2003, was French. Or the fact that anyone can fly over the reactor, walk up to the gate, or buy aerial shots from dozens of vendors. Or that you don't need a detailed map of the reactor if you just want to fly a jet into it.
<rant>In this day and age, all nuclear reactors are unsafe from determined terrorists. Reactors are bombs waiting for fuses. It's why I no longer support nuclear energy. Had any one of those jets on 9/11 flown into Three Mile Island instead of their intended target, much of the Eastern Seaboard would be unlivable today.</rant>
(Update 2005-08-08 10:16 UTC: Cooler heads prevail in Australia's federal government.)
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This is funny.
If they are so terribly worried about security, then why have they bothered to give driving directions on their web site
Furthermore, why on earth do they have arial photographs and 3d models of the place that, in my opinion, are far more revealing than google earth's coverage.
More images here .
Posted by: sidd at 5:59 UTC, August 08, 2005
for some reason two of those links didnt work:
http://www.ansto.gov.au/natfac/hifar.html
http://www.ansto.gov.au/info/00images.html
Posted by: sidd at 6:01 UTC, August 08, 2005
Not to mention that in the article Dr. Smith helpfully points out which parts of the site are secure and which aren't. I don't think that was on the internets before.
Posted by: Stefan at 6:53 UTC, August 08, 2005
All they have to do to foot-bound terrorist traffic is do a little Australian rules football on them. Air-borne terrorist traffic? Haven't they ever heard of these fun things called missles?
Posted by: Jason at 14:31 UTC, August 08, 2005
Similar concerns (non official, as much as I know) were voiced in Spain. Some info in Spanish in http://google.dirson.com/noticias.new/1425/
In Italy as well, Google Maps è illegale, was the eloquent post of an Italian blog, http://tinyurl.com/cjqbg
Posted by: Luistxo at 20:13 UTC, August 08, 2005
Maybe you should not support your life either, since your live could be used for terrorism also.
What a bullshit remark about nuclear energy, that was...
Posted by: Fixxxer at 10:38 UTC, August 09, 2005
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