Iphone4 and Israel's security

http://www.katonda.com/news/01/2010/2069

This article is about how new and emerging technologies allow information to be uploaded and moved around the world at an incredible rate. This can be an incredible tool, but can be also be dangerous as far as Israel is concerned. The Israeli government fears that with the new Iphone4 and Google Earth application Islamic terrorists can find out new information at an alarming rate. The government can’t do anything to stop or prevent this information and fear it has and will lead to murders.

The article realizes that its not the technologies that are dangerous, but more so who uses them and for what means. In my experience the app Google Earth has only been used to show people’s houses or famous landmarks. That doesn’t mean I could scan over the middle east and see American Military bases. Google has taken steps to reduce the danger by keeping the the satellite images out of date. They get updated from time to time , but currently is up from at least July of 2010. Either way, permanent structures such as a military base or airstrip don’t just get up and move locations. This information, which just ten years ago was only known by governments with the capabilities, can now be shown to anyone who knows to work a computer. This also poses a new challenge to the governments IT branch. Can they step up and get ahead of the curve and counter the terrorists? Either to sabotage their attempt at getting accurate information or to advance their tracking technologies to hunt down and capture these terrorists. A good metaphor used in the article is, IT is a knife, it can chop your vegetables for you but it can also cut you.

The constantly evolving world of IT and technology has constantly answered many of todays problems while creating new ones. In this case technology and the internet have increased the speed in which information is shared at an incredible rate. This can be very beneficial, but also some information that wasn’t intended to be shared can be. Once something is free on the internet there is pretty much no going back. With Google Earth it gives people unparalleled access to see places all over the world that they would normally never reach. The consequence of this is that people who would normally not know where buildings are, etc, now have the ability to learn such information, even mobile now. The iphone4 and the 4g networks are now enabling people to stream video from their phone using applications such as skype. This can be immediately uploaded to the internet, for the entire world to view. This can be from videos coming onto youtube immediately following a sports game, to footage from a terrorist attack. IT has constantly adapted and adjusted, surely within the next 6-10 months new advances will have counter effects or make this advance obsolete. Solving this problem but proposing another, only time will tell what it is.