South Korea is the latest country to raise its concerns over Google’s satellite photo service, Google Earth. The country is worried about sensitive sites being visible from space by the service’s users, including the presidential Blue House and military bases, as it remains officially at war with its neighbour, North Korea.
The presidential office in the country is reportedly planning to raise its fears with US officials. The roofs of some sensitive sites in the US – including the White House – have already been blacked out by Google, but that hasn’t happened with its satellite imagery of South Korea. Images of the secretive North Korea are also available.
anwhile, Google is facing increasing competition when it comes to the search enginge of choice for Chinese surfers. It’s reportedly losing market share to Baidu, it’s biggest rival, in the country – which has an estimated 103 million net users. However, their use is heavily censored. A survey found 33% of searches went through Google’s Chinese service, while 52% were carried out through Baidu.