When former President Abdul Kalam expressed concerns of Google Earth's unrestricted access to visual images of sensitive locations in India, nobody really paid much heed.

Though Google Earth had agreed to address the Indian security agencies' concerns by showing "fuzzy, low-resolution or distorted pictures'' of sensitive military and scientific establishments on the web, nothing really happened.

After the terrifying outcome of terror groups accessing Google Earth to identify the location of the Taj and Trident to mount a vicious attack on the two high profile targets, Amit Karkhanis, a Mumbai-based advocate has moved the Bombay High Court seeking a "complete ban on Google Earth and similar sites like Wikimapia''.

It has become evident that the terrorists who targeted Mumbai had utilised GPS systems to navigate their way to Mumbai by sea, communicated through satellite phones using several different SIM cards. They might also have kept tabs on the entire development with the help of handheld Blackberry web browsers.

The advocate filed a public interest litigation (PIL), stating that these websites have photographs and "extremely accurate navigational coordinates'' open to viewers without any form of filtering or security. The security of even sensitive establishments such as BARC, Naval dockyards, corporate and government establishments and Rashtrapati Bhavan can be compromised, Karkhanis said in his petition.

The combination of Google Maps or Wikimapia and a satellite phone is the perfect lethal ingredient the terrorists need to lay their plans with precision and accuracy thereby defeating the security designs of the government.

The key authorities responsible for mapping the country are the ministry of science and technology and Survey of India. The National Mapping Policy of 2005 allows only the Survey of India to prepare maps in India with the assistance of the National Remote Sensing Centre.

Yet, Google Earth provides free internet satellite pictures with absolutely no control to prevent misuse or limit access' to sensitive places, the petition stated.

The $400 premium edition subscription allows access to real-time maps and updates. Even the status of the ongoing construction of the Worli-Bandra Sealink is available on the site.

Fahim Ansari, a suspected Lashkar-e-Taiba operative who was arrested in Uttar Pradesh in February informed the police that he was shown maps of Indian locations on Google Earth by LeT commanders during his training in Pakistan.

Last year Google replaced images of individual buildings inside a British Army base in Basra after it emerged that Iraqi insurgents had used Google Earth images to plan attacks with those taken before the construction of the base. As Tom Friedman might say, the world is flat for terrorists too.

The PIL expects the government to disclose its strategy to ensure that terrorists do not access Google images to launch terror attacks on the country.

However, tools such as Google Earth are built from information that is already available from both commercial and public sources, and is available to anyone who purchases imagery from those public sources. In India, Google Earth has been used for flood relief in Gujarat, tsunami relief and rehabilitation in southern India and earthquake relief in Kashmir.

While the benefits of access to tools such as Google Earth for such valuable purposes far outweigh any negatives from potential misuse, Google seems open to discussing relevant issues with public agencies and officials according to spokespersons.