India's president, an ex-missile expert named A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, wants Google to dumb down Google Earth so it does not reveal sensitive Indian facilities so explicitly. Kalam asserts that terrorists could use Google Earth to gain insight into possible targets. It is easy to imagine terrorists all over the world booting up Google Earth as a standard research tool. Google responded with a reminder that Earth's satellite imagery is taken from public sources. But, of course, the point is that Google Earth is an easy and free pacakging of those sources. The fact that the images are at least a year old in most cases probably doesn't go far in assuaging fears. Google might consider blotting out sensitive areas, but a little of that puts a lot of editorial control in the hands of governments and companies that might deliver a long list of geographic demands.

If Google's map products aren't being accused of aiding terrorists, Google is accused of being politically out of date: Taiwan wants Google to apologize for labeling the island a republic of China in Google Maps.