Ever since Russian scientists gathered data in August 2007 to support of Russia’s claim that the North Pole is part of the Russian continental shelf, there has been hostile reactions from other Arctic boundary countries and speculation that Russia’s action might trigger a “new Cold War” over the resources of the Arctic.  Namely, who gets control of Santa’s workshop.

The International Boundaries Research Unit of Durham University has developed a new map of the Artic boundaries.

As you can see on the map, Russia now claims a sizeable chunk of realestate and the resources to be found under them.  And Santa is now living in Greenland.

For more information, read the IBRU page and the associated PDF.

Looking through the local paper for pictures from last night’s parade in town, I can across an article entitled

Sex offenders may be tracked by GPS

HARRISBURG (AP) — Sex offenders who are released from prison should be monitored more widely by global positioning satellite technology so law enforcement officers do not lose track of them as often, Pennsylvania’s auditor general said Tuesday.

Auditor General Jack Wagner urged state lawmakers to require at least five years of GPS monitoring for sex offenders who do not comply with Megan’s Law, requiring them to register their address with State Police upon their release from prison.

The last part is kind of funny, because it is not the initial releasase from prison where they loose track of people.. it is the subsuquent moves they do after the fact.  I am all for “release from prison, get tracked right off the bat”.

Ok, so read a couple of blog posts on this lawsuit. And I am amazed how people are taking Google’s side so easily.  When really, if the people bring the lawsuit are correct, Google did trespass onto private property in order to gather the imagery.

Sorry, I have to agree with the lawsuit in this regard, it is not about how they didn’t use the links on the Google site to remove the imagery.  It is about Google trespassing to get what they want.

News article about a store owner that got tired of being robbed and then told he would never catch the person. He went and put GPS trackers in some of the merchandise and when theft #6 happened, he tracked the criminal right down to his house and informed the police.

He was able to even see when some items were moved to a different location.  Hopefully, he is taking the GPS units out when merchandise is sold though.

No, not another GE bashing post   But seeing Ogle Earth’s post and Google Earth Blog’s post and their interpretations of the meaning of the new EULA.  I think it is more basic than that.  Google looked at their GE log files and probably saw that even though the EULA says “no”, probably more than half their users were from a work environment and using the free version to view their house.

So instead of slapping wrists and alienating users, it is easier to tweak the EULA; that next to no one reads   Which is why the title is as it is; Google is just letting people do, what they were already doing before.

But…

Restrictions. You agree not to use the Software in connection with or in conjunction with a system in a vehicle that offers real-time route guidance or turn-by-turn maneuvers. You agree not to use the Software for any bulk printing or downloading of imagery, data or other content.

Not to use for “bulk downloading”… um, then how are you going to view the globe then since there is a lot of stuff that has to download?

Ok, just been looking through some of the Google Street images.. and I have to wonder just how many laws Google broke to bring you this imagery..

Some quick examples:

Picture of a School Yard – Not sure about San Francisco.. but Michigan has some hefty fines if you are caught taking pictures of School Yards while school is in session.. kids present or not.

Brooklyn Battery Tunnel – No cameras allowed since 9/11

Various shots of the camera van speeding of course..  I am sure there are other examples of “Google Law Breaking”.

Question is.. in the communities where the laws were broken.. will they just let it go, or will Google legal start getting an influx of citations and court summons?  Personally.. Google needs to be held accountable to the rules and regulations of where they are operating.. but it will probably slide.