Google Satellite photo of Lancaster over UK

[Tony Smith]

You could find many interesting things using Google Earth, but some will be just a little harder to find:

Google blots out British bases
Jan. 20, 2007 at 12:41PM

British military bases in Iraq are no longer visible using the Google
Earth Web site.

Google "blotted" out the bases at the request of the British
government, The Daily Telegraph reported.

The newspaper said a search of Google Earth also showed that
other sensitive military installations, including Trident nuclear
submarine pens in Scotland and an eavesdropping facility in
Cheltenham had also been obscured.
British military personnel had been shocked by the detail
visible on the Web site, with pictures showing vulnerable base
locations, The Daily Telegraph said.

A Google spokesman told The Daily Telegraph the company had
spoken to the British government, "but we will not go into the
details of those conversations. "
"Google gets information from third-party providers so all the
pictures are publicly available," he said.
An Iraqi insurgent arrested by British troops was found with a
Google Earth map of the Shatt Al Arab base, The Daily Telegraph
reported earlier this month.
"This is evidence as far as we are concerned for planning
terrorist attacks," an intelligence officer told the newspaper. "Who
would otherwise have Google Earth imagery of one of our bases?"

Copyright 2007 United Press International