US Secret Service airbrushes aerial photos

[Pale_Rider]

A little late for LBN ... but I wonder if Keyhole imagery might be next?

Secret Service airbrushes aerial photos
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/55/34575.html

l it the case of the missing White House. Users of Mapquest's free aerial photo database recently noticed that details of several Washington D.C. government buildings were no longer discernable in overhead images of the U.S. capital.

A comparison of old and new images posted on the government secrecy watchdog site Cryptome shows that portions of overhead color photos of the Capitol building and the grounds of the Naval Observatory, where the Vice President's residence is located, have been distorted -- pixilated into an digital blur.

The White House and the adjacent Old Executive Office Building and Treasury Department headquarters were subject to more subtle tampering: the buildings are still sharp, but the roofs have been digitally painted over with featureless solid colors seeming picked from the surrounding landscape. The lot at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue now resembles a White House-shaped dirt field more than the seat of executive power.

But the modifications weren't performed by America Online's Mapquest, nor by the company that, until recently, provided Mapquest with aerial imagery. "We're surprised to see that," says Chris Becwar, spokesman for California-based GlobeXplorer. "We have other layers of imagery over D.C., and none of them have ever had this done to them. This is definitely a new thing."

[Robb]

1. Kind of old news

The USGS used to be responsible for most all of that imagery; used to be the photos were just used to create those famous topographic maps. Anyhow, being a government agency, they've complied with blackout requests since even before NAPP began -- notably that test field in Nevada, and several of the more obvious missile silo sites.

I suspect GlobeXplorer's contracts for sat imagery have clauses in them for this sort of thing as well.

[Pale_Rider]

2. Keyhole imagery ...

... still had sharp photos (< 1m) of the Capital as of couple weeks ago. Though I should probably check it this weekend.

http://www.keyhole.com

[Cannikin]

3. Ive notice the same thing on 'terraserver'

Even nuclear power plants are on there. It looks like they smudged them out with photoshop.

[newyawker99]

10. Hi Cannikin!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[Cannikin]

11. Thank you for the welcome!

[nhtfopo]

4. Keyhole's site isn't even there

maybe your link is bad?

I think this is a good thing though. No need to give out that info.

[izzie]

5. Isn't this locking the barn door etc?

Seems to me if they have been out on this thing some one hs them all.

[ParanoidPat]

6. Keyhole is there for me.

Link works fine. There are a number of internet archive sites that have archives of old pages where the original photos are still available.

Yep, better get that barn door fixed right away! :evilgrin:

[alfredo]

9. When Terraserver first came out

I found some very disturbing images. One was of a very sensitive facility in this state. I complained to Microsoft, when I got no answer, I went to my congressman. I don't know if it still shown, because I never went back.

[Pale_Rider]

7. Links works for me ... n/t

[Pale_Rider]

8. Just got home and ...

... yep the Whitehouse, Capitol and other government buildings are still there in fairly high detail. If you haven't done so yet downlaod a trial version of Keyhole, great entertainment and an education adventure for kids on all ages.