U.S. Pentagon Bans Google From Military Bases

Google mappers banned from U.S. bases from the LA Times reports the US Pentagon has banned Google StreetView photographers from accessing military bases. The ban came after StreetView photographs of Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio were found on Google Maps. Reportedly, Fort Sam Houston gave Google access to the base after a promise not […]

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Google Street View MilitaryGoogle mappers banned from U.S. bases from the LA Times reports the US Pentagon has banned Google StreetView photographers from accessing military bases. The ban came after StreetView photographs of Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio were found on Google Maps.


Reportedly, Fort Sam Houston gave Google access to the base after a promise not to take photos. An anonymous person told the LA Times, “Unfortunately, Google didn’t follow the rules.” Google spokesman Larry Yu said, “against our policy, we did mistakenly access the base.”

Gary Ross, spokesman for the U.S. Northern Command, said:

The Street View provides clear imagery of control points, barriers, headquarters and security facilities that pose a risk to our force-protection efforts.

So now, Google is banned from U.S. military bases.


About the author

Barry Schwartz
Staff
Barry Schwartz is a Contributing Editor to Search Engine Land and a member of the programming team for SMX events. He owns RustyBrick, a NY based web consulting firm. He also runs Search Engine Roundtable, a popular search blog on very advanced SEM topics. Barry can be followed on Twitter here.

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