Aerial mapping raises serious privacy concerns

Bob Barr
According to The Daily Mail, Google hopes to use the planes to “create 3D maps with much more detail than its satellite-derived Google Earth images.” That may sound like a worthwhile endeavor, but there are very real privacy risks involved. For example, the planes and the photographic equipment they employ are so sophisticated they “could potentially see into homes through skylights and windows.” The story illustrates a major problem: Technology is moving far faster than policy, laws and regulations have accommodated.